The Society's Newest Member
by GeekyLola
Summary: Piper's just found out she has a brain tumor. Now her whole life is turned upside down. Dealing with cancer, the idea that she may never play piano again and she might have a thing for one of her fellow patients is just too much for any sixteen year old to handle. Move over Emma, there's a new girl in town, er, hospital. And she's exactly what Leo needs.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Only the OC belongs to me.

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><p>"I'm so sorry Piper, you have cancer."<p>

Those were the words that changed my life forever. I had thought I was just going in for the usual post test reassurance that everything was fine. I'd had the migraines for a month and at first my doctor had reassured me it was probably just from the stress. Being a junior in high school with a possibility of getting into Julliard with a full scholarship due to your prowess tickling the ivories can definitely be stressful.

I was a piano prodigy, not to toot my own horn of course. But I had been most of my life. I began playing at three and took to it like a fish to water. I loved to play; drowning in music was the only thing that made life worth living sometimes. My parents had been thrilled, they gave everything to my abilities. Hired the best teachers, sent me to the best music schools they could. We weren't rich, but I was good enough to get scholarships to the private schools and that helped, immensely. Piano was my life.

Then the migraines started. They were nothing more than shear hell at first. The, I should be practicing but I feel like I imagine Zeus did when Athena was trying to spear her way out of his brain, kind of hell. But, life goes on, so I popped a few painkillers and kept moving. The migraines didn't stop though. Dad began to worry, so he made an appointment and we went to see my doctor. Doctor Harris had been my pediatrician for as long as I could remember. She was going to have to pass me off soon, we both knew, but I think she had a soft spot in her heart just for me. So when we went in, she humored my dad and ran some tests.

When she called us back to her office, I figured she was going to tell us it was just as she expected and I was just having migraines, prescribe me some stronger painkillers and send us home. But the look on her face when we walked in told me I was wrong. I smiled, like I always did when I saw her, and for the first time ever she didn't smile back. "Take a seat."

That's when I heard it for the first time. Cancer. I had cancer. "It's a tumor, actually." She explained.

All I could think was what sixteen-year-old has a brain tumor. What sixteen-year-old even gets cancer?

"The good news is we caught it early, the tumor hasn't had time to grow, which means it isn't inoperable."

I couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in on me.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but I have someone here to walk you through everything."

"I think I'm going to throw up." And I did. Luckily I made it to the bathroom first. I also had the good sense to lock myself in. I emptied my stomach into the freakishly sanitary toilet and then crumbled into a heap next to it.

Cancer. Not just any cancer but a tumor. And not just any tumor but a tumor in my brain. Of all the things for a migraine to be, I wasn't sure it was possible for it to be anything worse than that. It would turn out that I was very wrong, again.

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><p>Dr. Harris had a friend named McAndrew. Dr. McAndrew worked at a hospital called Ocean Park, which was the best hospital in the state. It was actually one of the best in the country, and McAndrew was one of the best surgeons to be found anywhere. I got some time with him because McAndrew owed Dr. Harris a favor, the nature of which the favor occurred would not be specified, but seeing as McAndrew was one of the best and probably swamped by people begging for his help and I managed the top of the list instantly made me think this favor was huge.<p>

"I know you're thinking this is a death sentence, but it's not. I am one of the best for a reason, and Beth was right. This is definitely operable." Dr. McAndrew was a very attractive man, in that older and more mature sort of way. He was looking over my charts, something I myself had not done. I didn't want to see the scan of the tumor. I didn't want to have to look at the thing that had forced its way into my brain and was currently taking up space where it wasn't wanted. "There is something you need to understand though, and this is very important."

"What is it?" I asked calmly. I was staying calm on the surface, because if my dad saw me freak out I think he'd lose it too.

"The tumor is in the part of your brain that controls movement and language." McAndrew paused.

"What does that mean?" I was trying to follow but the panic was setting in again.

"It means, when we cut it out you'll most likely lose the ability to speak and move most of your body parts, defiantly the major ones, arms, legs, even your fingers."

"What?" I whispered, feeling sick again.

"After the surgery you'll need intensive physical therapy to relearn how to speak and walk and move all of your other limbs."

"What?" I could feel the tears filling my eyes. It was so much worse. So much worse, than I could've ever imagined. I could see my whole life, everything I had worked towards, Julliard, all of it disappearing. "But – but I'm a pianist."

"You won't forget anything, you'll still know how to play and have all of your memories –"

"I just won't be able to speak or use my limbs! So I'll remember the notes and what my hands should be doing to play the songs, they just won't be able to?" I was in full freak out by that point. Total panic attack mode. All the oxygen left my lungs, I got dizzy, the room became too small. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't stop shaking.

"Is there any other way? What about chemo?" I could hear my dad asking.

"Chemo is an option but it isn't a certain way to get rid of the tumor, the surgery is. And after the surgery she'd have to have chemo anyway to make sure the cancer is gone and doesn't come back."

"Doctor McAndrew, my daughter has a chance to get into Julliard. She's a prodigy! Piano is her passion, her life! If there's even a chance that the chemo could work and she could keep her ability to play, we're going to take it." I have never loved my dad more than I did in that moment.

"Alright," Dr. McAndrew sighed. "We can give it one month. If the chemo doesn't start working by the end of the month though, I will have to strongly urge you to go through with the surgery. If we wait any longer at that point, the tumor might grow or the cancer might spread and then chemo would be our only hope."

"Thank you." My father shook his hand and a deal was made.

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><p>The next day I packed a bag and walked into Ocean Park hospital. I got off the elevator onto the floor with all the other dying kids around my age or younger. Though if I was being a bit less morbid I'd say not all of them were dying. Some of them were just extended stay patients.<p>

At the front desk there were three nurses. One a lean tan skinned man with slight facial hair and sweet brown eyes. He was smiling and laughing as he talked to one of the other nurses. She was young, probably fresh out of college, with long auburn hair and innocent grey eyes. She seemed so very bubbly, and she talked with animated hands to the male nurse.

The third nurse had been eyeing me since I stepped out of the elevator. She was an older black woman with deep brown eyes and a no nonsense expression on her face. She watched me walk up to the desk. "Who are you?" She asked with no introduction.

"Piper Douglas." She didn't ask for my last name but I thought she might mean me to give it.

"Oh yes, Piper, I've been expecting you. I'm Nurse Jackson, the head nurse of this ward. This is Nurse Dobler and Nurse Kenji. We'll be taking care of you from now on." Nurse Jackson gestured to the female and male in turn. They both waved, smiling kindly at me. I nodded back, not really feeling like smiling. "Come with me, I'll show you around."

I follow Nurse Jackson down the hall. The halls are painted in soft comforting colors, not white like the rest of the hospital. The room she takes me to is empty. There are two hospital beds inside, one of which is bare, the other has sheets folded neatly at the bottom. "I guess that's where I sleep."

"You'd be right. Dr. McAndrew wants you to start chemo as soon as possible, so your first treatment will be tomorrow at ten in the morning. He'll be by later today to make sure you understand what's going to happen, alright? I'll leave you –"

"Hey, Nurse Jackson I was just looking for you. Kara said she saw you bringing in a new girl." A bald boy on crutches smiled in the doorway. Looking him over I noticed he only had one leg.

"Hey, Leo, just the man I'd want to see. This is Piper, she'll be staying here a while. She's just about your age too. Make her feel welcome would you?" Nurse Jackson smiled at Leo and then me before leaving the room.

"Hey." Leo nodded.

"Hey." I nod back.

"Mind if I ask what you're in for?" He joked.

"Brain tumor. Mind if I ask how you lost the leg?"

"Cancer, as well."

"You didn't mind losing it?"

"Are you kidding? I hated it, but I'm alive, aren't I?"

"You've got a good attitude about all of this."

"It comes with time."

"Look, I don't know why Nurse Jackson thought I needed a welcoming committee, but I don't. I just realized my entire life is ending and I'd really rather be alone right now." I knew I was being mean, but I really didn't want to listen to all the inspirational crap this guy Leo might feel the need to spew at me.

"Alright, I understand. When you do get tired of being alone though, my room is right down the hall, the one with the painted windows. Come by and meet the rest of the group." With not even a glance back Leo turned and walked off.

Left in the room by myself, I couldn't think of what to do. This overly sterile, white walled room was going to be my home for who knew how long. I felt trapped. I felt lost. I started chemo in the morning and I couldn't find anything comforting to think about. If the chemo worked I might still be able to play piano, I'd probably be bald and fragile, but I could play. That was something, but I was kidding myself.

Chances were the chemo wouldn't work and I was getting my hopes up for nothing. Chances were I would need that surgery and my entire life would end. Or worse, my life could literally end and I would die. I wasn't prepared for that train of thought. I honestly had not realized my mind would wander there. I crumpled onto the bed with the sheets and I cried. I had not cried when I heard the news, I had not cried when I thought I might never play again, even though I had been really close. But thinking I might actually die, my life could really be over soon, I cried.


	2. Chapter 2

Just as my crying began to subside I heard someone clear their throat at the door. Looking up shocked I wondered in my embarrassment how long Dr. McAndrew had watched me cry before gaining my attention.

"I can come back in a few minutes." He said, trying to be polite.

"No, um, I just – I didn't…" I wasn't entirely sure what I had planned to say as an excuse, so I just stopped trying. "I hadn't thought about the fact that I might die. It hadn't even occurred to me, and then it just did. And I'm scared."

"You have one of the best teams in the world working to make you better. It's normal to be scared, but you don't need to be. You're going to be fine." I had a feeling McAndrew had said this speech a million different times to a million different patients.

"Can you promise me I won't die?"

There was a moment of silence. It was one of those silences that are somehow still loud and I knew he wanted to say he promised, but he knew better. He knew it would be a lie.

"If you can't guarantee it, please don't lie to me. I could die, I realize that now. It doesn't make me any less determined not to though. So, talk me through this chemo."

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><p>After McAndrew left I sat in the empty room thinking on everything else. About two minutes in to thinking however, I realized I was tired of thinking. Getting up I couldn't really decide what I wanted to do with myself, then Leo's offer bounced back to the forefront of my mind. It seemed as good an option as any, so I headed out to find the room with the painted windows.<p>

By the time I got there it was full. "Hey, Piper, you actually came!" Leo smiled widely at me. He greeted me like we were already old friends and it threw me for a loop. I wasn't sure if he was trying to be overly friendly or he honestly treated people like that all the time.

"Hey, just got done meeting with Dr. McAndrew. I didn't really know what else to do so…you said you had some people for me to meet?" I look around the room, taking stock of the others sitting around sizing me up as well.

There were two other guys besides Leo. One was black with a short afro and slightly drooping eye lids, which made it look as though he was high. The second was olive skinned, but didn't look white, possibly Hispanic. He had medium length light brown hair and dark brown earnest eyes.

There were also two girls in the room. One, tall with dyed blonde hair and cold grey eyes. She was staring as though my very existence was an insult to her own. The other was thin, like obviously sick thin, with skin that looked like it was once olive but had paled a bit, probably because of whatever was making her thin. Her hair was long, just like the blonde's, only she had light brown hair. She had brown eyes and a style the bordered on hipster.

"Leo, my man, when you said you met the new girl on the ward you didn't mention how beautiful she was."

"Yeah, uh, Piper, this is Dash." Leo chuckled, pointing to the boy who had just spoken. Droopy eyes was a smooth talker.

"Piper, it is a pleasure to meet you." Dash got up from his spot next to Leo and walked over. He took my hand and grasped it with both of his. "Leo probably neglected to tell you this but, I'm a guy who knows how to get things around here. Anything you need, feel free to call on me."

"Dash, was it?" I ask, gently removing my hand from his. When he nodded I smirked. "I'll be sure to remember that. But first, tell me something."

"Anything."

"Do any of these lines ever work on a girl?"

"No, they don't." The brunette girl laughed. "I'm Emma; it's nice to meet you." She held out her hand for me as Dash moved back to his seat.

I shook her hand and smiled tightly. It wasn't that I didn't want to be polite, it was just, I didn't feel like smiling just yet. "Nice to meet you too."

"That girl over there with the permanent bitch face is Kara, but you don't have to be friendly to her." Leo pointed to the blonde.

"Yeah, you really don't." Kara smirked. "So I heard you got a single."

"What's a single?" I asked, completely lost.

"Ignore her." Leo smiled.

"I'm Jordi, by the way." The brown haired boy said. "I'm pretty new here too."

"Hey." I gave a small wave.

"And now you've met almost everyone who matters at this hospital." Leo waved to the group at large.

"Almost everyone?" I asked.

"Yeah, well you haven't met Charlie, but we'll introduce you to him later." He answered. "You want something to drink?"

"Sure." I answered automatically. In social situations I had a tendency to be a bit uncomfortable; I couldn't bring myself to say no to anything offered even if I hated it. Once I ate a cherry tomato even though I absolutely hate tomatoes, just because someone's father offered it to me.

Dash reached into the bag on the tray table next to him and handed me a bottle. Realizing what had just happened I looked down to check the bottle. "How did you get alcohol?"

"Seriously? Does it matter?" Kara rolled her eyes.

"I told you, I can get anything." Dash smiled proudly.

"Well, I don't drink." I blushed, beginning to hand the bottle back.

"Really, like never?" Kara stared at me as though I was just too much of a freak for her to comprehend.

"Well, I've never really had any friends, and even if I did all the kids at my school are too obsessed with their own talents to bother to try to score anything illegal…except Ritalin or Adderall from the ADHD kids to help them focus."

"What kind of school did you go to?" Jordi asked in shock. The fact that he said 'did' was not lost on me. I guess technically I went to whatever school the hospital provided now, so 'did' was appropriate. I still didn't like the sound of it though.

"Academy of Arts and Education." I mumbled a little, slightly embarrassed to find that I was once again different from everyone else. We were all sick, but somehow I was still different. What does it mean when you're still not able to fit in even though you're in a group of kids dying, just like you?

"Are you serious?" Emma asked shocked. I nodded slowly. "That's amazing! They're pretty selective. What were you attending for?"

"Nerd alert!" Kara cut through. "Is this seriously what we're going to do the first time this poor girl drinks, talk about school and other things that get nerds off?"

"Piano, I'm trying to work my way to a full ride scholarship to Julliard." I ignored Kara at first to answer Emma. Dash still hadn't taken the drink from me so I gave up trying to give it back and instead examined the bottle. "I really don't know if I can drink this."

"You're in a hospital, with cancer. I think having a beer is the least of your worries." Leo pointed out. I looked at him for a moment. The look in his eyes said, what have you got to lose, and I couldn't think of one thing I wasn't already at risk of losing.

I sighed and twisted the top off. Just before I put the bottle to my nose to smell it Jordi stops me. "Don't smell it!" I jerk the bottle away quickly, shocked by his sudden outburst. "Sorry," he chuckles. "It's just if you smell it it'll discourage you. Just take a leap of faith and drink."

I sigh and nod. I bring the bottle to my lips instead and close my eyes. I tip the bottle back and taste my first beer. "That's sort of gross." I say after I swallow. The group just laughs. I take another drink. I finish my first fairly quickly, finding if I drink quickly I don't have time to notice it doesn't taste good. Dash offers me another one and I take it without hesitation this time.

"Don't drink too fast or you'll make yourself sick." Emma advises.

"Yeah, and I am not holding your hair back if you barf." Kara adds.

By the time I finish my second beer a warmth has spread throughout my body and it's not altogether unpleasant. "Is there anywhere I can get some air?" I ask calmly, trying to prevent the warmth from becoming uncomfortable.

"You aren't sick are you?" Dash asks.

"No, just a bit warm."

"Oh, that's normal. I think we have just the place to get you that air." Jordi looks to Leo, who nods.

They take me up some back stairwell until the stairs end. There is a double door at the top. When we walk through it's clear we're on the roof of the hospital. The air is cool and every few minutes a breeze would flow through. On the roof was a couch and arm chair with a rug underneath. "Wow, this is pretty awesome."

"Yeah, this is our own private hang out. And now it's yours too." Leo smiled at me.

"What do you mean?"

"We're kind of a group." Jordi starts.

"Yeah, the red band society, you can call us." Emma laughs holding up her arm to show a red hospital band around her wrist.

"And you are our newest member." Dash nods approvingly.

"Really, just like that? You don't even really know me."

"Yeah, but you're just like us, that's enough. Besides, we hang with Kara and you can already tell how annoying she is. You can't be any worse than her." Emma smiled.

"Hey!" Kara scowled at Emma.

Smiling for the first time since I got the news I moved to sit on the couch next to Leo. It was comfortably cushioned, not too much that I sank into a void of couch quicksand, but soft almost cloud like. I sighed, content with the warm feeling still flowing through my body, keeping the cold from the breeze at bay. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, resting it against the back of the couch.

"You okay?" Leo asked, and I could feel his eyes on me.

"Yeah, I feel warm, but not too warm, and sort of like I'm floating and falling at the same time." I opened my eyes and lazily turned my head to look back at him. "Is that normal?" I wasn't actually scared by the feeling; I just wanted to know if I was still weird somehow.

Leo just chuckled as he watched my face. "Yeah, actually it is. At least that's usually how I feel when I drink."

"I think I like it." I smiled softly.

"Yeah, me too." He smiled back.

I honestly don't remember most of the rest of the night. We stayed on that roof talking and laughing for a while. When it started to get really late we made our way back down. I found out Jordi was also doing chemo and we'd being doing our sessions together. He offered to meet me in my room in the morning so we could head there together and I accepted. When I climbed into the hospital bed for the first time I felt like a stranger in a foreign land, but the warmth still flowing through my body from the beer and the pure exhaustion of the emotional roller coaster I found myself on was enough to put me to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Only OC belongs to me

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><p>The next morning I woke up to Nurse Jackson. "Raise and shine Piper." She said in a sarcastically cheery voice.<p>

"Do I have to do either of those things?" I asked with my eyes still closed.

"Yes, you do." The no nonsense voice I had expected from her made me open my eyes and sit up.

"Good morning." I said, none too cheerily. Then I checked the clock. "I thought I didn't have chemo until ten. I should be able to sleep another thirty minutes before I have to get ready."

"I have to run some labs before we get started. Check your base blood count so we know if your blood count starts to get low during the process, check your heart, your pulse, take your temperature, all the usual stuff." She explained as she got started checking my pulse.

"Oh."Was all I could muster up. I sat quietly as she moved around me and checked everything.

"Alright, that should do it. Now get dressed, I have to go check on Jordi, then I'll send him this way." Nurse Jackson stated as she placed her stethoscope back around her neck and moved towards the door.

"Wait! How did you know Jordi and I were heading down to chemo together?" I stopped her, shocked.

"Honey, you're going to learn real soon, there's hardly a thing that goes on in my hospital that I don't know about." She smirked before leaving the room. I watched her go until I could no longer see her through my window, a feeling a fear and respect filled me when I looked at her. It was an amazing feat to gain both with a single sentence.

I dress comfortably, not entirely sure what the dress code for chemo might be. I pull a soft cream slightly oversized sweater over my head with a sigh. Then I pull my jeans on and decide on a pair of flats, foregoing my Chucks for the lack of slide on ability. I pull my mass of coffee brown curls into a ponytail with the elastic I always keep around my wrist.

There is a knock on my door and after I give permission to enter I turn to greet Jordi. Our brown eyes meet and I smile kindly to him. "Good morning Jordi."

"Good morning Piper. Are you ready to head down?" He asks.

"Yeah, should I bring anything? I mean how long do you usually sit down there?"

"About an hour, maybe a bit more. I usually bring something to keep me occupied, but I figured maybe we could talk." He suggests in a sort of shy manner that's not completely head down blushing like a school girl kind of shy, but still a bit adorably awkward.

"Yeah, that sounds cool." I nod in agreement. We leave my room and head towards an elevator that I hadn't noticed before. "What is this?"

"It's the service elevator. It's the only elevator we take." He answered.

"Why?"

"It's the one elevator that doesn't have any cameras and it can't be seen from the nurses' station. It's like one of the few ways we don't have to be watched every second of everyday."

"Asserting your freedom in any way you can?"

"Yeah, and just being teenagers, I guess." Jordi chuckled. "I mean, it's our job to rebel right?"

We exited the elevator on our floor and Jordi leads me to the room where we'd receive our chemo. Inside the room was sparse. There was a line of plush recliners, which I had not at all expected. They were all evenly spaced apart and in between each chair was an IV with a blue box connected to it. A few of the seats had dividers to give the patients privacy during their chemo. A short man with thick grey hair, wire rimmed glasses, a slightly pudgy belly and deep set laugh lines looked up from an elderly gentleman in one of the seats with the divider when we walked in.

"Hello Jordi and you must be Piper. I've been expecting you two." He glances down at the expensive looking watch on his wrist. "And you are right on time. Have a seat and I'll be right over to get you set up."

Jordi leads me to the far end of the room, opposite the elderly man who clearly wanted his privacy. "That's Dr. Howard. He's really nice. He handles all the chemo." I nod as I absorb all the new information.

"Alright, here we are." Dr. Howard says as he walks over. He begins fixing Jordi his chemo cocktail and then moves over to me. I watch him double check his chart to make sure he doesn't give me anything wrong and then he mixes up my poison. As he begins to place the IV in my arm he looks up at me with a smile. "So, did Dr. McAndrew walk you through this already?" I nod. "Good. It's nothing to worry about really. You'll most likely not lose your hair with this particular type of chemotherapy. You may experience a bit of body aches and nausea. If that begins, we'll put you on something to help with all of that. Remember to tell Dr. McAndrew or one of the nurses if you begin getting chills or start feeling feverish. But, just to be safe, one of the nurses will run labs before every treatment to keep a good eye on what's happening, okay?"

He smiled through it all and I could only nod as I tried to process everything I was being told. When he walks away to leave us to our treatment I turn to Jordi. "That was a lot."

"Yeah, he's kinda just like that sometimes." Jordi shrugs. "He did the same thing to me, my first time down here. It wasn't even until after my treatment was over that I fully digested everything he'd told me." He half joked.

I smile at Jordi for a moment, then look him over. "I'm going to ask you something. But I don't want it to be weird."

"Okay…" His eyebrows shoot up as he waits for me to continue.

"I feel like saying that made it weird already." He nods slightly. I chuckle. "Sorry, okay. What are you? Like you must be Hispanic, I can tell. I just can't tell what type."

"Mexican, actually I came here from Mexico to get help because my abuela doesn't believe in modern medicine and refused to believe anything serious was wrong with my leg, or at least anything so serious it couldn't be solved with some chants and an animal sacrifice."

I openly laughed at that before I could stop myself. "I'm sorry." I said once I regained control over myself.

"No, it's okay. It is pretty funny." Jordi smiled back. "So, what about you? I mean you're brown so obviously you've got something in you, and I'm pretty sure it's Hispanic."

"You would be right, sir. I am Cuban and Italian."

"Holy crap your family must be huge!"

"Way to stereotype." I teased. "Actually, most of my family is still in Cuba. The ones who aren't are in the northeast, so I don't see them much. But if I got into Julliard I'd be going to stay with my tía. I never really see her anymore, I kinda miss her."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Jordi's face changes from its usual earnest happy to a sudden distant sad. He shakes it off pretty quickly though and, not wanting to see him sad again, I let it go.

"So, what's up with you and Emma?" I ask, then quickly amend my statement. "You know, if you don't mind me asking."

"No, it's fine. I honestly don't really know." He sighs, with it I feel pent up frustration being released. I put on my listening ears. "See, I like her, she's really nice. Emma's funny and kind and it's really refreshing to meet a girl like her. But she doesn't seem sure she likes me too. She smiles at me or holds my hand one minute then she's a bit distant the next."

"I saw how she made herself cozy next to you on the roof last night. I think she likes you too." I respond honestly. "You guys would be really cute together, I think." I smile encouragingly.

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely, have you told her how you feel about her?"

"No, it's a bit complicated."

"Well, maybe if you told her, you'd get a direct answer in return and you wouldn't have to play the guessing game anymore." There was a pause as Jordi thought over what I said.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." He sighed, a bit more relieved now. "I'll think about it. But I don't want to just randomly say it. If I decide to, I want to do it right."

"Aren't you such a hopeless romantic." I tease again, finding myself at ease with Jordi in a way one is usually only at ease with an old friend or a relative.

* * *

><p>We continued to talk and laugh together all throughout chemo, with some short but comfortable silences in between. We talked about hobbies and he told me about what Mexico was really like, not the touristy part. At one point we laughed so loud the elderly man on the other side of the room glared at us from over top of his divider. We had the good grace to attempt to look remorseful, but it's hard to be truly apologetic when you're trying to control a giggle fit.<p>

Somehow, during the course of our conversations we began comparing the meanings of words from Mexican Spanish to Cuban Spanish. This is where we were as we got off the elevator to our floor.

"Okay, how about elevator?" I asked him, smiling brightly.

"Elevador." He answered.

"That's just lazy!" I accused, laughing. "It's actually 'ascensor'."

We were still jokingly arguing about the right way to say it when we entered Leo and Jordi's room. Leo and Dash were in there. They looked up as we walked in. "Hey guys." Dash eyed us skeptically.

"Hey." I answered back. "Hey Leo."

"Hey, how was your first day of chemo?" He asked with genuine interest.

"Not bad, definitely would have been unbearable though it weren't for this guy." I hip bump Jordi playfully. He blushes a bit in response.

"I'm gonna go see what Emma's doing." Jordi says before waving and heading back out and towards the service elevator.

"So, what have you guys been up to all morning?" I ask.

"Nothing much, just, uh, hanging out." Leo eyes me the same way Dash was.

"Why are you both looking at me like that?" I ask, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"You and Jordi seem to have gotten pretty close rather quickly." Leo comments, trying to sound casual.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool. We got to know each other a bit, seeing as there was nothing else to do in that room."

"Do you like him?" He asks.

"Jordi?" I question, when Leo nods I just look at him. "Are you kidding? He's clearly got a serious thing for Emma." I roll my eyes. "Why would you care anyway? Are you jealous I didn't fall all over you when I got here?"

"What? No!" He defended.

"Alright, then stop whatever it is you're doing. I thought you were supposed to be cool. I thought we could be friends, but this," I point my finger at him and make a circular motion. "this thing that you're doing is not what I'm about. So, if you decide to start acting cool again, you can come talk to me." I walk out of the room before anyone has a chance to say anything.

I don't even make it to my room before I hear Dash calling after me. "Yo, Piper, wait up." I turn back with an annoyed look planted on my face. He jogs to catch up which earns him a slightly disapproving look from Kenji.

When he catches up I turn and begin walking towards my room again. "What do you want Dash?"

We entered my room and I sat on my bed. Dash sat on the extra bed facing me. "Let me explain something to you real quick. So you understand why my man Leo is acting like this."

"Please do, because I don't get it. I thought you guys wanted me to be your friend, but then when I do begin to befriend someone I'm wrong?"

"Nah, it's not like that. The thing is, long before you got here Leo and Emma were an item."

I raise an eyebrow; this was not what I expected to hear.

"Leo started to really feel something for Emma, and he freaked out, broke it off. So they were pretty much at each other's throats just for the hell of it. It was like their way of releasing all that sexual tension, you know what I mean." I motion for him to continue. "But then Jordi comes along. Suddenly, Emma gets her eyes on him and they start to get close, like real close. But Emma and Leo still have unfinished business. So, for a bit now Leo and Jordi have been fighting for the affections of Emma."

"So Leo trying to get information from me about how close me and Jordi got was so he could go to Emma and try to make her think Jordi was all over me so she would fall back into his arms?" Dash gave a shrug that was almost a confirmation, but not really. I roll my eyes at the entire situation.

"But look, don't worry about me. I'm not going after Emma too. I only have eyes for you girl." Dash licked his lips as he stared at me.

"Seriously, Dash?" I start to smile and try to hold it back.

"What?"

"Go away!" I break and start laughing. "Do any of your lines ever work?"

"All the time." Dash smiled cockily.

"I seriously doubt that." I smirk.


	4. Chapter 4

Dash and I were laughing off his bad pickup line when Jordi walked in. "Hey, how did it go with Emma?"

"It didn't really. Leo came up not long after I got there. They were doing that weird arguing thing that seems more like flirting than arguing so I left." Jordi looked disappointed.

"Don't worry about it. You'll get you chance." I smiled encouragingly.

Jordi was just about to step further into the room when Kara brushed her way in.

"You did get a single! Why did you get a single when I didn't? I've been here longer than you. Isn't there some sort of seniority on this?" She immediately began complaining.

"Oh, I get it now. A single is a solo room. Okay, good to know you aren't here because you're crazy." I smirked, not answering a single question she asked.

"I have an enlarged heart, thank you very much." She snapped.

"Wouldn't that require you to have a heart?" I quip back.

"Oh!" Dash hypes for me.

"Seriously?" She turns to Dash. He just shrugs.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure I only got the single because the girl who was supposed to be my roommate died before I got here." I state calmly.

"Oh, man." Dash jumps off the empty bed. Jordi looks a bit sick and Kara…poor Kara.

"Oh my God! Are you serious? That is way creepy." Kara books it out the room and down the hall. The second she's out of range I burst out laughing.

"Did someone really die in here?" Jordi asks, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"I have no idea. I don't know why I got the single. I just wanted her to shut up about it." I explain as my laughter subsides.

Dash jumps back onto the empty bed and offers me his fist. Of course I pound it, and blow it up. Dash looks at me impressed. "That was a good one, I gotta admit. But you know Kara's not all bad."

Jordi and I both give him a skeptical look.

"She's not." He insists.

"I'll take your word for it." I nod.

* * *

><p>Later that afternoon I'm walking around aimlessly. "Hey Piper." I turn to find Emma walking quickly to catch up with me.<p>

"Hey Emma, how's it going?" I stop so she can catch up.

"It's alright, where are you headed?"

"Nowhere…" I pause because I notice the look on Emma's face says she thinks I just don't want her around. "I really am headed nowhere. I was sort of bored and didn't know what to do with myself, so I just started walking around. You're kind of saving me right now." I chuckle.

Emma's face lightens again. "Mind if I walk with you then?"

"I welcome it. Maybe you can show me around a bit. I've been sort of learning as I go so far."

"Sure." Emma smiles and we begin walking again. "So, you said you play piano."

"Yeah, all the time. At least I used to. I think that might be why I'm so bored, I don't know how to keep myself occupied. I didn't even think to bring any books. I guess I had this weird idea that I'd just be rushed from one treatment to the next and never have any time to myself."

"Yeah, only it's not like that at all, right?" Emma says. "I actually thought the same thing when I got here. I thought it would be all group therapy sessions and one on one sessions and annoying ladies looking over my shoulder and watching me eat. But it's not even close to that."

"Is that what you're here for, an eating disorder?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm anorexic." Emma explains.

"Oh." I really don't know what to say to that. It seems like such a foolish thing to do to yourself, but I don't want to insult her so quickly after meeting her so I keep my opinion to myself.

We walk in silence for a bit, then Emma begins pointing things out to me. This is where the golf course is, that's where the residents break room is. We get back on the service elevator and go up to my floor. She walks me past Leo and Jordi's room, then my room. We stop in front of a room I hadn't been in before. "This is Kara and Charlie's room." Emma explained.

I was happy to note Kara was nowhere to be seen.

"This is Charlie. I only just remembered nobody introduced you two." I look down at the young boy in his endless sleeping state. He had hair the same color brown as mine and a barely there sprinkle of freckles across his nose and cheeks. He looked peaceful, as though he could wake up any minute, but the IV and monitors surrounding him told a different story, the real story.

"Hello Charlie, it's nice to finally meet you." I sit on the bed next to him. "I hear you've been sleeping for a while. I hope you wake up soon; I'd love to have an actual conversation some time. Especially since all these cool people like you so much, I feel like you're somebody I should really know." I smile softly and grab his hand. I squeeze gently then let go. "I'm looking forward to really meeting you soon Charlie. Bye." I stand from the bed and turn to Emma. She is smiling at me, and I hope it means I've gained her approval.

We leave the room and Emma turns us back towards the service elevator. "I'll show you where my room is." She offers.

"Sounds cool." I answer. "Mind if I ask you a question?" I ask hesitantly.

"Are you going to ask why I starve myself?"

"Um, no, I wasn't."

"Then go ahead."

"What's up with you and Jordi?" I blurt out.

"Oh…I wasn't expecting that." Emma looks thrown.

"Sorry, it's just that I can't help but notice you guys seem into each other, but you don't seem to actually be together."

"Yeah, um, I'm not sure, I mean…" She trails off.

"It's okay, I get it. I'm sorry I asked, I didn't mean to be overly nosy."

"It's okay, I just didn't realize it was that obvious." Emma blushes. "But it's complicated."

"How so?"

"Well, I used to date Leo."

"Yeah, I know."

"He told you?"

"No, Dash did."

"Oh, well then you probably also know he broke up with me." I nod. "Then suddenly he started acting like he wanted to get back together and, I just don't know."

"Well, do you still have feelings for Leo?"

"No, we were so different. And I think I always liked him more than he liked me."

"I think it's possible that's not true. According to Dash he liked you a lot, and it freaked him out."

"Yeah, I guess that's possible." The elevator opens on Emma's floor and we exit. "Anyway, I feel like I never got to finish our business. I never got to say my piece, you know?"

"Yeah, I honestly do." I answer, thinking back to my own unfinished business break up. "Maybe you should try to do that, without making accusations or getting overly emotional, I mean."

We reach Emma's room and it actually looks really nice. It's got a great view and bright paint. It feels surprisingly open and homey. I notice a dresser and desk, a couch and a pile of books and magazines. "This is awesome." I nod my approval, noting that it felt almost like the exact opposite of Leo and Jordi's room, which Leo decorated.

"Thanks. What do you mean without being overemotional or making accusations?" She looked only slightly insulted.

"Girls like you and me have a habit of being shocked when any guy looks in our direction. So when we get dumped all we can think is it was bound to happen because we aren't the type of girls any guy likes. Right?" I don't actually give her a chance to answer; I know I'm on the right track. "We don't believe it's actually possible for us to just be someone's type, or just be a girl someone is genuinely interested in. But, I'm beginning to realize that may in part be why our relationships didn't last. We accuse guys of not actually caring or just begin with us because of this or that, and it turns them off. It makes them tired, they don't want to be with someone who is always accusing them of not caring. More than that, they get tired of always having to prove themselves, and then they're gone and we say it was inevitable. But it wasn't, we did it to ourselves. We pushed them away with our disbelief, and then when they try to make amends we tell them it was their fault. We get overprotective of ourselves and we get angry. And we never get what we really want in the end. We just defeat ourselves. Does that make sense?"

Emma is really quiet for a moment. "Yeah, I think it does. And I think I've already been overly emotional and accusatory." She sighs. "I think Leo and I really were different, too different to work, but I guess I shouldn't just assume we didn't work because he never really liked me. It's not fair, and to be honest he never did anything to make me believe he didn't really like me, not until we broke up."

"I believe if you tell him the truth, that you understand why he broke up with you and you aren't angry with him anymore about it, you'll feel a lot better." I smile. "Just make sure you both understand that you work better as friends because you're too different to be together and I think that'll give you the closure you really want."

"Thanks, I think you're right." Emma smiles at me. "Oh, I wanted to bring you here so you knew how to get here. Feel free to come up any time. I have plenty of books and stuff so you won't get bored, and I like having a girl who isn't Kara to talk to." She laughed.

"I completely understand." I laugh too. "I told her I got my single because my roommate died. I feel like it was sort of messed up, but she just kept complaining that she didn't have one." I roll my eyes.

"Your roommate didn't really die, did she?" Emma asks shocked.

"I think she just went home, but I honestly didn't ask when I got here. I didn't know getting a single was that big of a deal."

"It is to Kara." Emma rolled her eyes.

* * *

><p>I leave Emma an hour later. When the elevator doors open I come face to face with Leo.<p>

"Hey." He says sheepishly.

"Hey." I shoot back coldly.

"I think I owe you an apology." He says, as though testing the waters of my mood.

"Go on." I say, still refusing to look at him.

"I wasn't trying to be a complete jerk when I asked about you and Jordi." He began. I glance at him from the corner of my eye. "It's just, as much as Jordi is my friend we're in a bit of a rough patch right now. See, when he first got here he said his mom was dead and it was just him. But then his mom showed up, very much alive and very much shocked to hear we thought she was dead."

At this I cave and turn to look at Leo in surprise.

"Apparently they have a very rocky history and she wasn't a good mother so he just pretended she was dead. Then, when Jordi told her how serious everything was going to be she abandoned him again."

"Where does your issue with him come in?" I ask, trying to follow.

"He lied to us. I'm not going to say I'm a saint and never lie, but I never lie to my friends. We're all here together, dealing with messed up stuff and all we have is each other. You just don't lie to a fellow red bander." He finished.

"Okay." I say simply.

"Okay?" Leo looks at me, trying to figure me out. "Okay like you understand and we're friends again?"

I purposefully keep my face completely stoic. "Okay like okay."

The elevator doors open and I walk out, no longer looking at him because my face is beginning to crack.

"Are you messing with me right now?" He follows behind me accusing.

"I don't know Leo, am I?" I continue to speak monotone, but I can't turn to look at him because then he'll see me smiling.

"Piper." He grabs me and turns me around. "You're the worst!" He laughs when he sees how big I'm smiling.

"Actually, I'm the best. That's why you were so desperate for me not to be mad at you." I smile in triumph.

"You're going to drive me crazy, aren't you?" Leo asks, pulling a horrified face.

"Yeah, but I promise you'll love every minute of it." I wink before walking away from him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Okay, I have honestly never been so taken with an idea I could pump out chapters like this. I hope everyone has been enjoying it. I'm sort of just writing connections these first few chapters it seems like. So, maybe next chapter Piper and Kara will find some common ground. I also want to thank everyone for all the amazing reviews and favorites and follows, it feels great! I just wanted to warn you, I probably won't be posting again for a few days. I have to finish up my other story. But I promise not to make you wait too long.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **Still only own the OC

* * *

><p>The days started to pass with a kind of order. Every three days I woke up early to go down to chemo with Jordi. The day after chemo I'd usually end up in the CAT scan, getting pictures taken with my tumor. Dr. McAndrew wanted to monitor it carefully, because at the first signs of it growing instead of shrinking he was going to stop chemo and schedule the surgery. In between all of this I was trying very hard to fill all the space that used to be taken up by school and practice.<p>

I'd never had so much free time in my life. I found myself desperate to find things to do. I would borrow books from Emma and blow through them much faster than I intended to. I would also look for Dash, because he was usually causing some sort of trouble that could keep me preoccupied for a least an hour. I even asked Jordi to teach me to play poker after I learned more about his mother's brief stay.

Even with all of the random things that go on in the hospital, there were days when I just found myself wandering. That was what I was doing when I found Kara. "Hey." I called to her, expecting a snappy comment in reply.

"Hey." She said, turning from me. I could tell right away that something was off about her. She seemed weaker, paler than before. Even her usual death glare was gone.

"Are you okay?" I asked, actually becoming concerned.

"I'm fine." She snapped, trying to stomp away but stumbling a bit instead.

"No, you aren't!" I grab her and support her. "You're getting worse aren't you?' I question softly, though I already know the answer.

"I said I'm fine." She tries to sound angry but all the edge has left her voice.

"No you aren't. Come on, I'll take you to your room." I offer.

"I'm going to the break room." She orders.

"Why, so you can huff dry erase markers again?" I snap at her. She looks at me a bit shocked. "I wander around this hospital all the time. I see you in there, when you think no one's looking or when it's someone who'll turn a blind eye. Are you really that stupid?"

"What the hell is your problem?"

"I have a brain tumor, what's yours?" I turn on her.

"You aren't my mother!"

"Well where the fuck is she, because someone needs to slap some sense into you!" Kara stays silent, just watching me now. "You're dying Kara! DYING." I say it slowly so it will sink in. "You have an enlarged heart, and I'll bet from what I've seen of you, you're at the absolute bottom of the transplant list, and you're just sitting around getting high like you don't want to be helped, like you don't want to be saved. Do you understand that your life could end if you don't get your shit together? Do you even care?"

Kara just stares at me and for the first time I see actual emotion in her eyes. She looks scared, like I've just shattered the glass that was blocking her view of reality. But I can't stop myself now, I'm too angry.

"No one is going to help you or feel sorry for you when you don't even want to be helped. You're going to die in here because you won't admit you're an addict and get better. You'll never climb up the transplant list, no matter how sick you get because who would give their heart to a girl who's going to OD when she's 25 anyway?" I finally stop and my voice is going hoarse. The look on Kara's face is pure childlike terror, and I immediately regret everything I've said. "Kara I – " I can't believe myself. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"You really think I'm going to die?" She asks.

"If you don't stop stealing drugs and huffing things…" I pause, but I know she needs to hear it. "Yeah, you could really die, and it might not even be because of your heart."

"Why do you even care?"

"We're supposed to be friends, right?" I shrug. "You may have been a pain in my ass this entire time, but everyone else sees things in you that are worth friendship, and I have faith that they're right. So, I consider you the biggest pain in the ass friend I've ever had, but a friend none-the-less. That means I care what happens to you, and I don't want you to cheat yourself out of new heart and life." I smile encouragingly to her.

"Can you help me back to my room?" She asks, and it's the most polite thing that's ever come out of her mouth. "Oh, and if you speak a word of this little moment to anyone I will end you." Then she was Kara again.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I sigh and help her back to the room.

* * *

><p>Later on that afternoon I'm laying on Leo's bed because I found myself wandering again after I left Kara. I stumbled upon Leo and we headed back to his room to just hang out.<p>

"Leo, how long have you been here?" I suddenly ask.

"A few months, or maybe more like six." He amends.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Deal with everything? You seem so at home in this hospital."

"It is kind like being at home. I love the people here, my friends are all here, and I made my room feel like my room." He shrugs.

"But it's not home, and it doesn't feel like home. I feel like I'm slowly going crazy here. I miss my bed, I miss my family, I miss my piano. Oh, God do I miss my piano! It's been over a week since I've played." I sigh wistfully.

"How often did you play before?"

"Every day, several times a day."

"I used to be like that with soccer."

"You played?" I arch an eyebrow in his direction.

"It was my life. All I did was play, practice and hang out with the guys on the team."

"Were you any good?"

"Are you kidding? I was the best!"

"Oh, not very humble, are we?" I laugh. Leo laughs too. When our laughter subsides he looks a bit more seriously at me.

"I was really good though. I was in line for some scholarships, but..." He trails off looking down at his leg, or rather the place his leg used to be.

"Yeah, I understand what you mean. If I end up having surgery I can kiss all my plans goodbye too." I smile sadly.

"What kind of music do you like to play?" Leo changes the subject.

"John Legend, I love his music. Stevie Wonder, he's just amazing. If I could play with him one day, I'd die happy. I like musicals too, and Adele, old school blues and jazz. That soulful stuff just moves me, you know?" I brighten up as I think of it. I can't keep the smile from forming on my face. "That's not what I usually play though." I bring myself back down.

"What do you play most, then?"

"All the classical! Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, you name the classic man; I've probably played him within the last year. I used to like it, you know, Swan Lake and The Four Seasons, but…not so much anymore." I chuckle dryly.

"Wait, you don't even play stuff you like?"

"Stevie isn't really Julliard material, you know?" I shrug, but somehow I feel he knows it bothers me more than I want to let on.

"Why do you miss it so much if you don't even play stuff you like?"

"Because being the piano player is what I know! It's who I am, my whole life it's who I've been. I feel like I'm losing myself in here without it."

"Well, maybe while you're here you'll have time to play the stuff you like again." Leo offered up.

"With what piano?" I gesture to the hospital at large. "It's okay; I'll just have to find something else to keep me sane. You guys are doing a pretty good job, but you can't always be around me." I joke. "Anyway, I just realized how late it's getting. I gotta head to sleep." I jump lightly off his bed.

"Do you really have to go? It's not that late."

"Just because you're a slacker doesn't mean I have to be one too." I tease. "Besides, tomorrow is chemo day, and that means Nurse Jackson will be waking me up early to run the usual tests." I scrunch my nose at the thought.

"Yeah, alright."

I turn to leave and notice Jordi is still gone. "Hey, where's Jordi?" I turn back to Leo.

He shrugs. "I think he's still hanging out with Emma."

"You okay with that?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, Dash told me you and Emma used to be an item. And almost everyone has said you and Jordi have been battling it out to win her affections. I'm not so sure about that part anymore though." I say, thinking out loud.

"Why is that?" He asks, genuinely curious.

"Isn't it obvious?" He shakes his head so I continue. "Well, since I've been here I haven't seen you do anything to try to impress Emma, not even something little. I hate to tell you this but if you were trying to beat Jordi for Emma's affection, you're losing that fight right now." I chuckle lightly.

"Yeah." He chuckles halfheartedly. I look at him confused as he seems suddenly lost in thought. "So, when do you think you'll be out of chemo tomorrow?"

"Probably sometime after noon as usual. Why, got something planned?"

"Not yet, but if I figure something out I'll let you know."

"You better!" I smile. "Night, Leo. I'll see you tomorrow." I give a breezy wave, not even turning to look back as I exit the room.

"Night, Piper." He calls after me.

In my room, I find myself thinking maybe it isn't as uncomfortably foreign as I used to think, it's still not home, but it wasn't completely strange anymore. Maybe I would start decorating it a bit, making it feel even less foreign. As I started to drift off I thought how much better it would be if I could just get a piano in here.

* * *

><p>The next day starts off exactly as I expected it to. Nurse Brittany comes in this time to run the usual tests. Then I dress for the day and Jordi meets me at the door. We go down to chemo together and enjoy each other's company. We've taken to talking in Spanish in the chemo room because when we don't the elderly man who's always in there gives us dirty looks.<p>

Chemo days are usually the most structured, or at least the ones that go most predictably. Today, however completely derailed my chemo day schedule.

After chemo I've started to get tired, which apparently is a completely normal side effect. So I part ways with Jordi and head to my room. When I get there however I stop dead in the doorway. I am in absolute shock. "How –" I can't find the words to express the emotions overtaking me in this moment because there in my room, against the back wall is a piano. Not just any piano either, it's my big beautiful Tardis blue piano.

"Surprise." I hear someone whisper in my ear.


	6. Chapter 6

I turn to see Leo smiling at me.

"Did you do this?"

"Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding? This is the most amazing thing anyone's ever done for me!" I throw my arms around his neck and squeeze tight without even thinking. I feel tears welling up in my eyes and I blink them back. Then I feel him wrap an arm around my waist and squeeze back. Then he buries his head in the crook of my neck. I can feel his warm breath every time he exhales and for the first time in my life I feel my heart do this weird fluttering thing.

I slowly pull back.

"You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I just…I can't believe you did this for me."

"You said last night that you felt like you were losing yourself in here. I know how much that feeling can suck. I also know that when you're in here you can't afford to lose yourself. So I called in a favor and got you a piece of yourself back."

I try to find the words to express my happiness, but none come. Finally, I just lean forward and plant a small kiss on his cheek. "Thank you." I whisper, before quickly turning away as I can feel the blush creeping onto my cheeks.

I walk slowly over to the piano and press a key. The note resounds through the room and I sigh, my first real breath since I entered the hospital. Instantly I begin playing Moonlight Sonata. The room fills with the sound just for a moment before Leo cuts through. "Stop!"

"What?" I turn to him.

"You said you hate playing that stuff, right? So why is it the first thing you play?"

"Habit…I guess." I shrug, defensively.

"Play me something you actually like." He moves further into the room, taking a seat on my bed. I look at him for a moment, then turn back to the piano. I sit on the cushioned bench and think. What do I want to play for him?

I think for only a few minutes before the song pops into my head. I don't know why it's the only one to come to me, but I don't hesitate to play and sing it for him.

_We'll do it all, everything_

_On our own_

_We don't need anything_

_Or anyone_

_If I lay here_

_If I just lay here_

_Would you lie with me and just forget the world_

There is a moment of silence before I hear clapping, not just from Leo but also further behind me. I turn to find my friends smiling and clapping for me, as well as Nurses Brittany and Kenji. I smile and blush lightly. "Thanks you guys."

"You're really good!" Emma states.

"Yeah, maybe we should play together sometime." Jordi offers.

"Yeah, of course. That would be awesome." I answer.

"You didn't say you could sing too." Dash adds.

"I only sing a little. I'm not that good." I shrug it off.

"No, you really are." Leo is staring at me in a way I have never been looked at before when he says this. Our eyes lock and I smile shyly at the complement.

"Thanks."

"What song was that?" He asks.

"Chasing Cars. It's by this band I love, Snow Patrol."

"So, what? Now we're starting a band?" Kara interjects. I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Yeah, Kara, and it's actually lucky we have you because you know every band needs that one person nobody likes." I smile brightly at her.

"Whatever." She scoffs but doesn't add anymore bitchy comments. "How'd you get a piano in here anyway?" She adds.

"Oh, actually Leo surprised me with it." I smile at him. The entire rest of the group turns to him as well, only their looks are much more shocked than mine.

"Wow, Leo, man that's a serious mack move." Dash nods approvingly at him.

"Seriously, Dash?" Leo looks at him with a bit of a blush creeping into his cheeks.

"My bad." Dash smirks, looking not the least bit sorry.

"What are you talking about, Dash? Leo isn't into me, we're friends. Besides we've barely known each other more than a week." I laugh the idea off. Dash raises an eyebrow at me. I turn to Leo, confused. "We are just friends right?"

"Of course we are!" Leo responds quickly, the light blush still tinting his cheeks. "Dash just thinks since anytime he does something nice for a girl he's trying to get her, that it must be the same for every guy."

I smile contentedly, but somewhere in the pit of my stomach this conformation doesn't sit as well as I expected it to.

"Alright, whatever, I guess I'm wrong." Dash rolls his eyes at us. "Anyway, Piper you should definitely play more. It's nice having some good live music in this hospital."

"Yeah, you definitely sound better than Charlie's dad." Kara agrees. I look at her in mock amazement. "I can be nice." She justifies.

"I gotta go to therapy, but I'd love to listen to you play again later." Emma smiles.

"I'll walk you." Jordi offers. I raise an eyebrow to them.

"Okay." Emma smiles and after a small wave they walk off.

"We're leaving too." Dash said, signaling to Kara. "Kara's gonna show me a great place to conduct my business." He smiles before leading her off.

After they leave I turn back to Leo. "Is something going on between those two?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, I'm a bit nosy. Plus they always end up doing secret, probably illegal things together." I note.

"Yeah, they kind of do, don't they?" Leo scrunches his eyebrows together as he thinks on something.

"Hey, about what Dash said…" I start.

"Don't listen to Dash." Leo cuts me off. "We're friends, right? Friends do things to cheer each other up."

"I just wanted to say that I'm glad we're just friends. With cancer, and the possibility of surgery, and my own unfinished business back home I'm just really glad we can be friends and not complicate anything more than it already is." I explain.

"Your own unfinished business?"

"Well, you know how you and Emma are in this weird place because you broke up with her but neither of you actually got closure? Well, there's this guy back at my school named Trevor. He was my first long term boyfriend." I smile a bit as I think of him. "He was sweet and popular, an actor and wannabe composer and for some reason he liked me. Until he broke up with me, that is."

"He broke up with you?"

"Yep, with no real reason and no warning that I could pick up on. He tries to be my friend, but sometimes when we're alone together things get…complicated." I blush.

"Complicated…?" Leo looks at me.

"Like, oh hey I don't want to be with you but I totally just kissed you, complicated." I explain.

"Yeah, that sounds complicated." He nods.

"Right?" I sigh. "Which is why I'm going to say something to you I don't want you to be upset about."

"What's that?"

"Let Emma go. I know you say you don't care about her and Jordi liking each other, but you're still holding her back from moving on by not allowing you both to finish whatever it is you have to and moving in."

"But, I'm not trying –"

"I know. That's why, as your friend, I'm telling you that you guys need to talk. You need to let her know you don't want to be anything other than friends and let her speak her piece too."

"Yeah, okay." Leo stares out the window in my room for a moment before he sighs. "Hey, I'm gonna go. Enjoy the piano okay?" He smiles before leaving me.

I begin playing again.

* * *

><p>As the days continue to pass I notice that I have connected with each of my new friends on a different level. When I was with Emma we just sat around reading books and talking about them. I felt like a girl with her, like a normal teenage girl with her friend.<p>

With Kara, I felt more like a mother, but that's exactly what she needed. Someone who wouldn't step down to her fear tactics and tell her the truth even if she didn't want to hear it. She was vicious sometimes, said things that actually hurt me, but when I stuck it out and crack her shell I found the real Kara actually endearing.

With Dash, I was a bro, a wing woman, a friend. He often got us into the most mischievous situations and I imagined him to trickster incarnate. He bet on things he probably shouldn't. Being friends with Dash was like being friends with a more female obsessed Weasley twin. It was fun, if a bit dangerous, but at the end of the day he only had the best intentions.

In Jordi I found a brother. I'd never had siblings, but a brother was what I would've wanted if I'd had the choice. Jordi was like that brother, I'd wished for. He was sweet, if a bit immature at times. He could have a bit of a temper and hold a bit of a grudge, but he would listen to reason if you just gave him time to cool off. It was also really nice to be able to speak Spanish with someone other than my family. Most of my friends preferred to be Americanized, and while I didn't mind that I also loved my heritage and wanted to celebrate it as well. With Jordi I got that chance.

Then there was Leo, who I somehow began to spend most of my time with. I'd often find myself wandering to his room when I had nothing else to do. We would just talk, sometimes for hours before either of us realized how long we'd been together.

I found that my feelings for Leo were unclear. With everyone else I found where I belonged, but with Leo everything was a bit confusing. I wanted his friendship, but every now and then he'd look at me and that feeling would come back to my heart and mess everything up.

I wanted life to be as simple as it could be in the hospital. I was trying hard to avoid anything more complicated than it needed to be. My feelings for Leo were challenging that. They were much more complicated than I wanted them to be. Unfortunately I was about to find the situation could only get more complicated from here.

I was wandering in the directions of Leo and Jordi's room as usual a week after the piano incident when I overheard Leo and Emma talking. I thought I ought to turn and walk away, or at least make myself known, but like any nosy person I didn't.

"I just think you and I were always too different to work." I heard Emma saying.

"We were, but I want you as my friend." Leo responds.

"I want you as my friend too." Emma says and I think she may be smiling. "Besides, I think we both found people we can move on with."

"What do you mean?" Leo's voice is thick with confusion.

"Well, I really like Jordi and I think I'm going to give it a chance."

"Okay, but you said 'we both'. I don't have anybody." Ouch, that hurt in a way it shouldn't have.

"Are you being serious, Leo?" I guess he nodded. "You clearly have feelings for Piper." I freeze, barely breathing.

"No I don't, we're just friends. We even talked about it."

"You surprised her with her piano. You've never done anything that sweet for anyone, not even me when we were dating." Emma says, with a tone that said she couldn't believe how thick he was being.

"Yeah, but I just wanted her to be happy."

"Exactly."

"I don't have feelings for Piper. She definitely doesn't have feelings for me; she has a guy back home that things are confusing with. She just wants a friend." Leo defends.

"But if she didn't, you'd want to try wouldn't you?" This question is met with silence. "I thought so. It's really obvious to everyone except you guys it seems like. You're perfect for each other. Just don't mess it up this time Leo." There is a shuffle and I realize Emma might be leaving.

I jump quickly and then turn to rush off. Instead I crash directly into Nurse Jackson. "You should watch where you're going Piper." She says in a normal tone, but she might as well be yelling as far as I'm concerned.

"Piper?"I turn to see Leo and Emma in the doorway of his room staring at me. I can feel my face burning red.

"Hey, guys. I was just coming to see what you were up to but you look busy, which is cool, because I have to be somewhere now anyway so I'll just talk to you later, okay? Great, bye." I say all of this in one long horrified breath then turn and walk, very quickly as far away from them as I can get.

"Piper!" I hear Emma call after me but I don't stop. In this moment, I can't get too far away from them.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Hey guys, I had a hard time getting this chapter done. I feel like I sort of lost the characters when they show was off for a week. Seems like lots of interesting stuff happened and I toyed with the idea of following the show on a very vague level, but (**Spoiler Alert!**) with Leo and Emma clearly a thing now I might drop that idea fairly quickly. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and likes and follows as always.

More songs will most likely follow, just a warning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I own OC, that's it.

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><p>I end up hiding in a small nook I find in the lounge. It's blocked by a support pillar and can't be seen from the door. I feel it's the perfect hiding spot since if anyone were to walk into the lounge they would just assume the room was empty.<p>

I sit for an hour breathing heavy, but silently so as not to draw attention to myself. While I sit in that little nook I hear the door open multiple times. Once I hear Leo call out my name to see if I'm in the room. Of course I don't answer. While I sit in the nook I think, my brain swimming in possibilities.

Leo might like me…why does that thought make me want to sing? Leo just wants to be my friend, but he wouldn't if I hadn't said so first, maybe? Trevor still kept me hanging on by a string back home, but he hadn't bothered to text or call me since I got here. He wasn't my boyfriend, why should he hold me back? For that matter what exactly would he be holding me back from, Leo? We were just friends; I was getting ahead of myself. I was his friend, he was mine, and we didn't want anything else. Did we? Did I?

I pictured Leo's face in my mind and a smile spread across my face…well that answered that question. I had a crush on Leo. Great. What happened to not making things complicated? Well, it was his fault!

_Who brings a girl a piano in a grand gesture of friendship? Nobody, that's who. Those things only come from grand gestures of love. Unless you're Leo. Damn Leo, with his welcoming eyes, and sexy smirk, and heart melting smile, and ridiculously cute dimple, and oddly still attractive bald head…get a hold of yourself Piper!_

I slapped myself softly out of that train of thought. Only to quite quickly fall back into an inner argument. This goes on far longer than I'd want to admit (hours) before I can't ignore my cramped legs and sore butt any longer. I finally scoot out of my hiding place and stretch.

"Everybody's looking for you." Nurse Jackson is standing there looking completely nonplused by my appearance.

"How – you know what I don't even care." I sighed.

"So why were you hiding?"

"I wasn't hiding!"

"Mmmhmm." She raised an eyebrow to me.

"I wasn't." I defended.

"I didn't say anything." She just smirked at me and turned to leave. "Oh, and like I said, everyone's been looking for you since you ran away. So you may want to take the actual elevator if you want to avoid confrontation."

I almost argue again, but instead just take her advice. I use the regular elevator for the first time since the first time I came to Ocean Park. It feels weird, like some sort of violation. When I get off the elevator Kenji is smiling at me.

"Don't you start too." I look at him.

"I didn't say anything. Except, you seem to have caught the attention of a certain someone on the floor, haven't you?"

"Kenji." I sigh.

"There you are." I turn to see Dash heading towards me. "We've been looking for you everywhere."

"Let's keep it that way, shall we?" I turn away from him.

"Oh, no. You gotta tell me something."

"What?"

"Why did you go AWOL?"

"I didn't." I say quickly.

"Piper, look who you're talking to. Let's not play this game."

"Okay, so maybe I was hiding from Leo and Emma."

"Now we're getting somewhere." Dash smiled.

"Try not to look too excited." I say deadpanned.

"You were hiding because…?"

"I might have accidentally eavesdropped on a conversation they were having and heard lots of things I shouldn't have." I am definitely trying to be evasive. Dash knows it too. We end up walking towards my room as he pumps me for information.

"Okay, well maybe I should just go tell everybody I found you."

"Don't you dare! This is why you get along with Kara isn't it?" I glare at him. "Okay! I overheard them deciding they are better as friends and then Emma suggested we were perfect for each other and that Leo likes me."

"And?"

"And then I ran into Nurse Jackson who alerted them that I was there and I got super embarrassed and ran away."

"Okay, but do you like Leo?" Dash said, ignoring everything else.

"Does that matter right now?"

"It's all that matters right now."

"I can't. I mean I don't." I correct myself.

"Nah, you meant you can't. But you do." Dash smiled.

"Of course I do!" I groan and drop my head into his chest. "What girl hasn't liked him here? I mean, seriously! Who surprises a girl with her piano and doesn't expect her to go weak in the knees? He doesn't play fair."

"What are you going to do about it?" Dash begins to rub my back to comfort me.

"Hey."

"Kill me now." I say to Dash as we turn to find Leo in the doorway, eyeing us and the scene before him.

"Sorry." Dash said before patting my shoulder and leaving. He had to slide past Leo who was glaring slightly at him as he passed.

"Hey, how's it going?" I smile awkwardly at him. "I was actually just on my way out, so –"

"Oh, no. You've been running from me all day. We need to talk." Leo stands right in the doorway, blocking my only exit.

"Okay, you wanna come in and sit down then?" I offer. He comes inside and closes the door.

Leo walks over to my bed and sits, patting the spot next to him. I hesitantly take a seat, but leave a bit of distance between us. We sit in silence not looking at each other for a few minutes.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I ask.

"What did you overhear me and Emma talking about?"

"Nothing really, just that you both got your closure. That's really good by the way." I smile.

"Yeah, except you were there a lot longer than that weren't you?"

"I didn't really hear anything after that." I lie. My heart is pounding against my ribcage.

"You didn't hear anything?" The tone in his voice tells me he knows I'm lying.

"I mean, I heard Emma say some silly stuff about us being perfect for each other, but…" I trail off.

"You think she's wrong?" Leo turns to me now.

"I don't really know what it means to be perfect for someone."

"So you don't like me?" I turn to look at Leo.

"I didn't – we're just friends, right?" I can't take my eyes off him now. Something so confusing is happening and I'm almost positive Leo is getting closer.

"What if I don't want to be friends?" He asks, completely serious.

I don't have an answer for this question. I wasn't prepared for this conversation to go this way.

"I just don't want things to get complicated." I say.

"You're living in a hospital, going through chemo, living with a brain tumor. This is where you decide to worry about complicated?" He chuckled.

"But that's a different kind of complicated. It's not…boy/ girl complicated."

"Do you like me?" Leo asks again. I nod slowly. He closes the distance between us. "I like you too. See? This is the complete opposite of complicated." I don't get a chance to say anything this time. Leo brings his lips to mine and kisses me, and I don't stop him. It's not shy, or overly invasive. But his hand is on my face and neck and mine are around his neck. And I'm not sure when this happened or how long we stay like this, but for a wonderful moment I can't think of anything but the feeling of Leo's mouth on mine.

Then his crutch falls and clatters against the floor. Suddenly, all my senses come flooding back to me and I push away from him. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no." I say, standing up and putting some distance between us. Leo reaches down and grabs his crutch, then stands.

"Piper, please don't freak out." He says calmly.

"I'm not freaking out." I snap. "Okay, that wasn't very convincing, but I'm really not freaking out." I say, with a much calmer tone. "But, that was a lot more than I expected to be dealing with tonight, so I need to go." I start for the door.

"This is your room." I can hear the smirk in Leo's voice.

"I know." I say turning to shoo him out instead. "I meant you need to go." I walk him out and he turns around.

"How long are you going to freak out over this before you talk to me?" He asks.

"I'm not freaking out! Also, I don't know." I say honestly.

"But you will come talk to me when you're done, right?"

The look in his eyes breaks me down. "Yeah, of course."

"Good." He smiles as I start to close the door. "Hey!" I stop to look at him. Leo grabs my face again and kisses me really quickly. "Good night." He smiles like a villain and walks away.

* * *

><p>The next day was chemo with Jordi. I paid extra attention to my outfit in the morning, not that I was trying to impress anyone. I wore a black polka dot shirt, with spaghetti straps and lace edges. I wore my usual comfortable dark wash jeans and my black Chucks, instead of the usual flats. I almost put on some makeup, but decided that it was too much, especially since the only makeup that was in my room was stuff Kara had left behind. I started to pull my hair up, but decided to leave it down. I hadn't done that since I got to Ocean Park, and honestly didn't do it much back home, unless I ran out of time getting ready for school.<p>

"You're wearing your hair down." Jordi said in the doorway.

"Yeah, does it look bad?" I asked.

"No, it looks really good, actually. It looks like you." He smiled. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

Down in the chemo room we settled in our usual spot and Dr. Howard sets us up before leaving. **_"So, Leo walked into the room last night looking like he was on cloud nine. You know what happened?"_**

**_"Nope."_** I shook my head, but the red tint on my cheeks gave me away.

**_"Did you guys get together?" _**Jordi looked at me excited.

**_"What? No, we just might have, sort of kissed." _**I blushed, but a smile started to form on my face and I couldn't help myself but look a bit happy.

**_"Seriously? That's great. So are you guys an item now? Like official boyfriend and girlfriend status?"_**

**_"No…I sort of freaked out on him and kicked him out afterwards, actually." _**I scrunch my face.

**_"Why?"_** Jordi looked really shocked by this turn of events.

**_"I don't want things to get complicated. There's this guy back home, and we aren't technically together, but we make out sometimes and I don't know what's going on there."_**

**_"He sounds like a tool."_**

**_"You're only saying that because he isn't Leo."_**

**_"So?"_** Jordi shrugged. I chuckled at him. **_"But seriously, where is this guy if you guys have such a thing? I've seen your dad in here several times. Even your mom managed to Skype you, and she's miles away in another state. So where is this guy?"_**

**_"I don't know. I don't think anyone at my school knows where I've gone."_** I defend.

**_"But we have cell phones. He can't call, or text, shoot you an email maybe?"_**

**_"Jordi, stop." _**I start to get uncomfortable. **_"I know Trevor isn't the best person in the world but you don't even know him."_**

**_"Exactly, I don't even know him. He's never shown up, and you've never mentioned him. It seems like the only reason you're bringing him up is because you need a reason to keep you from trying with Leo."_**

**_"That's not true."_** I defend feebly. **_"Okay, look, I can't afford to make things more difficult for me than they already are. Yeah, I like Leo, but I'm also sitting here with an IV in my arm. They are pumping us full of poison every three days in the hopes that it'll kill something in our body that's already killing us. Things are already difficult enough to deal with without adding all the confusing emotions that come with liking someone."_**

**_"So your brilliant idea is to just stop feeling things for people until you get out of here? And then what? If you make that choice you're also making the choice to give up completely on you and Leo. When you get out of here, you aren't going to the same school, or living in the same neighborhood, or hanging out with the same people. Your lives will go in different directions and you might never get this chance again. The one good thing about being here is that it brought us all together. We are a group of people who might've never met if it weren't for the fact that we got sick. I feel almost lucky to have gotten sick, because without this cancer, I wouldn't have you guys."_**

I looked at Jordi for a long time. I just looked at him. He wasn't nearly as immature as I thought he could be. **_"Yeah, I know what you mean."_** I smile at him, thinking on our group.

I'd never had friends like this in my school. I'd never felt like I did with Leo with Trevor. I knew enough to know that I wanted to kiss Leo again, and I wanted to spend more time with him. But I also knew there were things we had to discuss, things he had to understand, before I was ready to give in to any feelings.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>My internet was not working last night so I couldn't post this. So instead I wrote chapter 8 and started chapter 9. Get excited people! Lol, I'm just messing with you, not about finishing chapter 8 and starting 9, but about you having to get excited. 8 will probably be posted tomorrow so everyone has a chance to read 7 tonight and tomorrow, I don't want to bombard you all with too many chapters.

Also, I changed Piper and Jordi's conversation to bold and italics this chapter just to remind you all that when they are in chemo they speak Spanish to each other. I thought it would be easier to do it that way, instead of actually writing it in Spanish and then giving the translation at the bottom of the chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: **I'm weak! I broke! I wanted you all to know what I know! LOL, enjoy ^_^

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><p>It took me two days to talk to Leo about our kiss. In those two days, lots of things happened.<p>

After Jordi and I had chemo the first day, I went to my room to take a nap. Halfway through my nap however I woke up feeling as though I was going to vomit. I had just enough time to press the nurse call button before I had to rush to the bathroom and puke my guts out. Brittany came to me.

"Oh, are you okay?" she asked, pulling my hair back for me as I continued to vomit.

"I – haven't – even – eaten anything!" I stopped every word or so to gag or vomit up stomach acid. I had not realized that was even possible until this very moment. It burned my throat so bad I started to cry. "Please make it stop." I cried in a lull in my gagging and puking.

"Alright, Kenji get Nurse Jackson and Dr. McAndrew." She ordered. I hadn't noticed Kenji standing behind her. Brittany sat with me, holding my hair until I had nothing left to throw up. Then she offered me the towel to wipe my face.

"What's wrong?" Dr. McAndrew came rushing in, followed closely behind by Nurse Jackson and Kenji. "Alright, start her with aprepitant and see if that helps. And make sure we rehydrate her." Dr. McAndrew ordered to Kenji, who hopped right to it.

"Come on, let's get you into bed." Brittany suggested, and with the help of Nurse Jackson that's what they did.

"Don't worry, Piper. Nausea is a completely normal side effect of your chemo. We'll start sending you down with some hard candy to suck on. It helps sometimes. We're also going to start monitoring how much you drink a lot more. And, unfortunately we're going to have to put you on a liquid diet until we're sure the aprepitant works. We don't want you cutting up your throat if it doesn't." Nurse Jackson explained as she made me comfortable.

Kenji came back with an IV and they hooked me up to it. "I put the medicine in here for today. If it works you won't need the IV tomorrow. But you'll have to take this daily just to be safe." He explains.

Once the nurses cleared out I noticed Emma and Kara standing in the doorway. "Hey." I said in a hoarse voice.

"Hey, are you okay? We saw everyone rushing to you and we got scared." Emma says as they enter.

"I just puked my guts up. Like literally, I'm positive I don't have a stomach anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"Ew."

"I'm okay, except that I'm now on a liquid diet for a while and my throat feels like hell."

"We're glad you're okay. Do want us to get you anything?" Emma offered.

"I can bring you like a pillow or whatever if you promise not to barf on it." Kara added.

"No, guys. I'm okay, promise. I'm just tired. I think I'm gonna try to sleep."

"Okay." They left and I drifted off fairly quickly afterwards.

* * *

><p>The next day I was feeling better. I hadn't slept through the night that great because I was woken for an IV change and then just to be checked on, but I was still better. I went for my CAT scan early and then was greeted in my room by my dad.<p>

"Hey!" I smiled.

"Hey sweetheart! How are you doing today? Dr. McAndrew called me yesterday to tell me about the nausea." He looked me over with tired and worried eyes.

"I'm fine. The medicine is working like a dream and I only puked for like two minutes tops." I reassured him, wishing McAndrew wouldn't worry him over little things like that.

"I see you've been enjoying your piano. That Leo boy is something, isn't he?" Dad smiled, looking at the piano. When we'd first gotten it he had thought the color was a ridiculous one for a piano. But the moment I'd seen it I knew it was the only one for me. Tardis blue, bigger on the inside, and actually older than it looked.

I found it online; some older lady had been selling it. She said she never played anymore and had no use for it, but she didn't want something so full of memories to just sit and rot, or worse, be turned to fire wood. So I stole it. No, I'm just kidding, we paid for it, but we got it for a steal. Fixed up the paint and ran away to music land together. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

"Dad, can we not talk about him right now?" I sighed, not feeling like explaining just how 'something' Leo really was right in that moment.

"Okay, I'm dropping it." He smiled. "I have some good news though. Your mom got her vacation time approved. She'll be able to come home for a month starting Friday."

"Really?" I smiled, and teared up a bit. I hadn't actually seen my mom in the flesh for months. She had gotten a really good job several states away, but with my school being as prestigious as it was neither of my parents wanted to risk derailing the path for my future. So they made a hard decision. My mom got an apartment in Colorado and my dad and I stayed behind so I could finish high school here. I was going to Julliard when I graduated anyway, my dad could just move to Colorado with mom once high school was over. It had been so simple. Until all this happened.

"I know, I miss her too." Dad hugged me. "So, are you in school in here?"

"Yeah, I mean sort of. I do chemo every three days so I miss a lot, but it's not hard to catch up. I have a great group of friends to help out."

"That's good. Oh, I got the stuff you asked me to bring." He held up a bag.

Every time my dad came I remembered things to help make the room feel more like mine and I asked him to bring them. He always obliged me and never forgot anything. Last time I'd asked him for sheets and a blanket. This time I asked him for my iPod, iHome, and some curtains, since the curtains the hospital provided were a beige depressing mess in my opinion.

I had also asked if I was allowed to paint my room, to which I was given a firm no. But I was told I could feel free to hang up posters and pictures, so two and a half weeks into my stay at Ocean Park I was finally feeling more at home in my room.

My dad stayed his usual hour before he had to head off to run some errands. Or at least that was his usual excuse. I personally thought an hour was all he could handle before he got sad and he didn't want me to see him sad about my situation.

After he left I changed my curtains amid fussing from Nurse Jackson for standing on a chair instead of just asking someone to do it for me. Though, after she finished fussing she did take the old curtains away for me. Then I plugged in my iHome, placed my iPod in it and turned on one of my new favorite bands, Bastilles.

I lay on my bed and spent the rest of the day drowning in the music I had spent years collecting. The whole time I stared at my ceiling I thought of Leo and what I was going to say to him when we finally talked again.

* * *

><p>The next day I woke up sort of late. Not really late since it was only ten in the morning, but later than I had been waking up recently. My body was becoming used to the hospital's schedule. I got out of bed, showered and dressed for the day.<p>

It was one of those days where there was no class, no scans and no chemo, which meant the whole day was mine. I had no idea what to do with it though. I played a bit of piano, if you consider playing for an hour a bit. Then I got up and left the room. I decided I was going to confront Leo and have the talk I had been sort of dreading, and sort of longing for.

When I got to his room he was with Jordi and Dash. "Hey, guy." I greet them.

"Hey." They all reply in unison.

"Okay, that's not weird." I note. "Hey Leo, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah." He says, looking at the other two. "Let's take a walk." He suggests, grabbing his crutches and moving towards me.

We walk in silence for only a moment before I start talking. "So, I'm done freaking out." I joke.

"That's good. It only took two days which is nice." He jokes back. "What did you decide?"

"I need you to understand why I'm so hesitant about this." I turn to look at him and we stop walking.

"Okay."

"The thing is, where my tumor is makes it difficult for me to want to start anything with you. Dr. McAndrew says that not a lot has changed since I started chemo, which means it hasn't grown, but it also hasn't gotten smaller. So chances are getting pretty high that I'll be going into surgery to have this thing removed."

"Yeah, but I broke up with Emma because of my big surgery, and I regretted it before I realized we were better as friends anyway. I'm not going to let you push me away because you're scared of what might happen."

"I'm not scared of what might happen. I could die tomorrow for all we know. I'm scared of what I know will happen and that's what I need you to understand. Because of where my tumor is I'm going to lose my ability to walk, talk, and move my arms if they have to cut it out. I'll basically be a conscious vegetable." I explain. "I won't be able to do anything for myself for a long time. That's a lot for me to deal with already, I can't ask you to deal with it too."

"You realize that I'd be dealing with it anyway, because you're my friend too and I wouldn't just disappear on you."

"Yeah, but I don't want you to feel obligated to stay with me. What happens if it becomes too much and you need to walk away?"

"That's not going to happen."

"You don't know that and I'm not sure I want to you to have to find out. I won't be me anymore after this surgery, not really anyway. I'll be some sad version of me. We won't be able to talk or go on walks together. I'll be different, I'll be –"

"Piper!" An all too familiar voice calls out to me from down the hall. I turn to see who it is and stare in shock.

"Trevor!?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **OC is mine, nothing else.

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on The Society's Newest Member:<strong>

"_Piper!" An all too familiar voice calls out to me from down the hall. I turn to see who it is and stare in shock._

"_Trevor!?"_

* * *

><p>I stare in disbelief as he jogs up to us and sighs in relief.<p>

"I've been looking all over for you. The nurse at the front desk wouldn't tell me anything. I've only just heard about what happened. I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" He says everything without pause, not letting anyone get a word in.

I keep staring at him for a minute. "Um, no…not really doing too great. You know," I point to my head. "Brain tumor and all." I begin to wonder if he was always this inconsiderate.

"Of course, that was a stupid question." I nod. "But, I'm here now. When I heard the news, I finally realized how much I care about you and what a mistake I had made."

"Trevor, this is Leo. Leo, this is my ex Trevor." I introduce them, ignoring that last statement he's just made.

"Hey." The hardness in Leo's voice was completely lost to Trevor.

"Hello." Trevor doesn't even turn to glance at Leo. "Pipes, can we go somewhere to talk…_privately_." He stage whispers the last word.

I turn to Leo and he nods. "Let's walk." I say to Trevor leading him only a little ways down the hall to where the front desk and elevators are. I strategically place him closer to the elevators. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you, I realized I made a mistake."

"Oh, well four months is nothing. Glad you finally came around."

"Pipes don't be like that."

"I hate that nickname!" I snap quietly.

"But it's so cute." He brushes off my annoyance. I wonder with each word that falls from his mouth what I ever saw in him. "Look, I don't want you to be alone at a time like this. I'm here to be with you, and when you finally get better, we can go to Julliard together. After that, we'll travel the world telling people our story and making beautiful music together, the great composer and his lovely prodigy girlfriend! We'll be the couple who faced the impossible and came out stronger on the other side."

"Are you seriously trying to sell my cancer as a sob story right now?" I look at him in utter disbelief. "I'm not alone! And I don't want to travel anywhere with you as your sob story arm candy." I snap.

"Pipes, together we'll be the greatest team there's ever been." He grabs my hand.

"You stole that line from Wicked. And do not call me 'Pipes'." I yank my hand back, but I can feel my strength depleting. Chemo has begun taking its toll on me. "You aren't even listening to me are you? God, I don't know what I ever saw in you. You've always been so self centered, so obnoxious, so –"

Trevor yanked my face to his and slammed his lips into mine. This kiss, much unlike the one I'd shared with Leo, hurt. I felt bruised and violated. I tried to push away from him but all my energy was gone. He was much stronger than me, especially in my current state.

"HEY!" Unbeknownst to me, Leo had been watching the entire interaction. When he saw Trevor kiss me, he snapped. Rushing over faster then I'd ever seen him move on his crutches, he shoved Trevor off of me. "Are you okay?" He asks gently, and before I can respond Trevor cuts in.

"Who the hell are you?" He snaps, sizing Leo up.

"I'm the reason she doesn't need you." He answers.

"Are you kidding me?" Trevor looks past Leo at me. "You're going to choose a cripple over me? You really are pathetic, aren't you?"

The second the words leave his mouth Leo's fist collides with Trevor's face.

"Oh my God!" I shout.

Trevor recovers and tries to take a swing at Leo. Leo drops his crutches and tackles Trevor. They fall to the ground rolling around and throwing punches.

I just stand there in shock as Dash and Jordi come rushing out of Leo and Jordi's room. Several burly orderlies are also alerted to the commotion as well as Nurse Jackson.

The orderlies separate the two boys and pull them to their feet. Trevor looks terrible. He has a bloody lip, a swelling eye and a red cheek which may or may not just be from the exertion.

Leo, on the other hand, doesn't come out looking too great but is definitely doing better than Trevor. His cheek is red and beginning to swell and there is a small cut on it, but other than that he seems untouched.

"He started it." I point out Trevor to the orderlies and Nurse Jackson who are all trying to figure out what happened, but Trevor and Leo are too angry and breathing too hard to answer any questions. "He tried to attack me and Leo protected me."

It wasn't the complete truth, but it wasn't a lie either. Leo had been protecting, or at least defending me and I did consider the forced kiss an attack.

The orderlies released Leo and began to drag Trevor away.

"You're worthless and pathetic, Piper!" He yells as they drag him on the elevator.

"Maybe I am, but at least I didn't just get my ass kicked by a cripple!" I yell back.

I turn back to check on Leo. Dash and Jordi have collected his crutches and are holding him up as he situates himself back on them. They are both trying to make sure he is okay, and like a true champ he's brushing it off as if it's no big deal.

I walk over to him and he turns to look at me. "Look at your face." I sigh guiltily. "Can someone get us some ice?"

"I'll get it." Brittany, who I had not noticed appear, walked off to get the ice.

"Is what you told the orderlies true?" Nurse Jackson looks at us with those, I'm not sure I believe you, eyes.

"Basically." I answer honestly and she lets it go. I am shocked for a second because she never really lets anything go. Brittany comes back with an ice pack and I take it gratefully. "Come on; let's sit you down so we can deal with that."

I lead Leo to my room, since it's closer than his. He sits down on my bed and I stand over him, placing the ice pack on his red cheek. He flinches a bit. "You don't have to take care of me." He states, looking a bit embarrassed.

"You just beat up a guy for me so I think I do." I smile.

"So, that guy was your unfinished business?" He points in the direction Trevor was dragged off.

"He used to be. I think it's definitely finished now." I chuckle and shake my head. "I didn't remember him being such an unbelievable tool, though. But I guess that was just the fa blindness."

"'Fa blindness'?"

"Yeah, you know when you're in a relationship and you really like someone, but you don't love them yet and you aren't quite falling? That's what I call 'fa'. It's that really great part, before complicated things and before the glass has been shattered and you notice their flaws. Before you have to decide if you still want to be with them despite their flaws. In my mind it goes like, fa, falling, in love. And the thing about fa is it's blinding because you haven't noticed the flaws yet, so to you they're perfect. Even if in reality they are so completely wrong for you. That's what the problem with Trevor was, I was blinded by fa. Now that it's gone I can actually see him, and I'm embarrassed I was once so upset that he broke up with me."

"Don't be embarrassed. Everybody gets one bad ex." Leo reassures me. "So, is it only good before the complicated bits, or can it be good even after that?"

"By the time it gets complicated you've usually already made up your mind. You're either calling it quits or you're in love, or at least falling. That's what makes you willing to work through the complicated bits. It doesn't mean you aren't happy. It just means you're more realistic, they aren't on a pedestal anymore, you know they are human and make mistakes and you're willing to forgive them." I shrug, smiling softly as I continue to ice his cheek.

"What if it's complicated before it even begins?"

"I don't know. I guess if it's complicated before you start, you either start when you're already falling or you're just crazy enough to try for it anyways." I laugh. "I've never really had complicated before anything starts."

"Would you ever try complicated?"

"Only for someone really special."

"Have you ever met anyone that special?"

I pause and look at Leo for a moment. That feeling in my heart that started when he brought me my piano is starting again and I turn my gaze away from him, my decision made. "Yeah, once."

"Yeah? What happened?" Leo is studying me closely now. I can feel his eyes on me and the heat creeping into my cheeks.

"He kissed me, and I freaked out. I was scared of the complicated and I almost missed my chance to try for something really great. Then he beat up this guy for me and…I don't know. I just knew I couldn't let him go."

Leo's face breaks into a smile as he realizes what I'm doing. "So, what happened when you told him?"

I turn back to look at Leo again and our eyes lock. I smile slowly and bite my lip nervously. "I haven't really gotten that far yet."

This time I lean down to kiss him. I hesitate for a second but he meets me part way and our lips touch. I am once again reminded of the drastic difference between when Trevor kissed me and when Leo kisses me. It's soft and sweet at first. Then we become more confident and it grows more passionate. I grab his face and he pulls back. "Ow." I realize I've grabbed his bruised cheek and grimace.

"Oh!" I hover my hand over it like I want to touch it again, but think better of it. "I'm sorry." I scrunch my face.

"It's okay." Leo smiles and takes my hand. "As long as you're kissing me, I don't care." Then he pulls me back to him.

"Finally!" We hear from the doorway and turn to see all of our friends smiling.

"Get out!" I yell and throw a pillow in their direction. I turn back to Leo who is smiling and I laugh.

* * *

><p>The next day, after chemo I'm in my room playing and singing absentmindedly. "But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you've been here before?" I sing softly.<p>

"Hey." I turn to see Leo walking in.

"Hey." I smile.

"What were you just singing?" He makes his way over to me.

"Pompeii. It's this deceptively upbeat song that's actually really depressing if you pay attention to the lyrics." I laugh. "What are you up to?"

"Avoiding PT."

"Seriously? You have to go to that."

"I think I'd rather spend time with you." Leo plants a kiss on my cheek with a smile as he slides onto the bench next to me. I just stare at him trying to look disapproving. "So, can you teach me something?"

"You really want to learn, or are you just trying to distract me?"

"I really want to learn."

I stare him down for a moment, then shrug. "Alright, I teach you something."

I situate myself more seriously in front of the piano. "Alright, umm…okay, yeah! Put your fingers here." I take his hands and place them. "You're going to play this over and over until I tell you to stop. And I'm going to play down here, okay." Leo nods. "Alright, go." He starts playing the note just like I showed him. After a moment I join in and start singing. "Say something I'm giving up on you."

"Wait." He stops playing abruptly.

"What?" I look at him confused.

"I don't want to play that."

"Why not? It's decently easy."

"Well, then give me something harder to play. That's a depressing song about a relationship ending. I want to play something better." He says with finality.

I sigh, but don't argue. "Alright, give me a second." I think. "Okay, this one is a bit harder, but let's see if you can do it."

We try for about ten minutes before it becomes apparent Leo's hands are not coordinated enough for piano. "Now I see why you were a soccer player." I tease. "Here, let's try something different." I readjust our seating position. "Put your hands over mine." I order and he listens. "Okay, now we can just play together."

_Come away with me in the night_

_Come away with me_

_And I will write you a song_

We finish the song, and I smile. "I think you might actually have potential, Norah Jones is not super easy to play." I say resituating myself so we are once again seated next to each other.

"Of course I do. It's probably because you're an excellent teacher." Leo smiles at me.

"Of course I am." I joke back. Then I lean in and kiss him.

"Leo Roth! I've been looking all over for you. Aren't you supposed to be in physical therapy?" Nurse Jackson walks into my room and fusses at Leo.

We turn to look at her. "I tried to tell him to go." I defend myself.

Leo looks at me with mock betrayal.

"Mmmhmm, you looked like you were trying really hard to get him to go." Nurse Jackson raises an eyebrow at me.

"I can't believe you'd throw me under the bus like that." Leo looks at me.

"Look, I really like you and I would never want to do anything to hurt you. But I like living too, and Nurse Jackson is scary so if it comes down to it, I will always throw you under the bus." I pretend to look mournful as a stroke his cheek tenderly.

"Let's go, Roth." Nurse Jackson orders.

"I knew you were going to drive me crazy." He pretends to pout as he stands to follow Jackson.

"Yeah, and I knew you were going to love every minute of it." I smile and wave him off.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Ta-da! They are finally together! I don't know if this fic will be much longer. I am toying with the idea of going through Piper's surgery and the aftermath of that, but I don't know yet. There's a Harry Potter fic I've been meaning to write for a long time now so I may just break this one into two parts (seeing as that's the cool thing to do in Hollywood now). Feel free to let me know what you guys think. And, thanks for all the reviews and follows, you guys keep me writing.

P.S. The songs mentioned briefly this chapter were Pompeii by Bastille and Say Something by Great Big World. The song Piper sang in full was Come Away With Me by Norah Jones All songs have been shortened as per the rules of the sight.


	10. Author's Note

**An: **Sorry guys, I know you're all hoping this was a new chapter but it's just an update from me since I'm guessing you don't follow my profile all that closely. I promise I will be continuing this story. I will, and I wanted to put all your minds at ease by stating that first. However, I've had this idea for a Harry Potter fan fiction for the longest time and I finally figured out how I wanted to do it so I've been working on the first chapter for that all this time.

I also wanted to let you all know I'm playing around with some ideas in my head for how I want this story to progress so I'm going to bounce them to you all so you guys can let me know what you'd like to read.

**First:** I am thinking of putting Dash and Kara together. I am also thinking of bringing in Hunter, the new guy from the show. Wondering if people would like to see Dash/Kara or Hunter/Kara? I have ideas for both. I will note, if I do Hunter/Kara I will bring in an OC for Dash, and I may ask you guys for OC ideas.

**Second: **I am considering following this through Piper's surgery and recovery. If that happens it is likely I will create more obstacles for our favorite couple….but I will give no spoilers. I just want everyone to understand that if I do this Piper will become slightly hard to understand as she won't be able to speak. That was just my preparing you all for that part of it. This might also result in POV changes so you aren't stuck just reading what Piper thinks while she's stuck in bed.

**Third:** This is very important, it will probably be another week before I update. I needed to warn you guys and apologize for the wait. I just have a lot of ideas swirling around in my head for my other fic and it's blocking all my thought process for this one. But feel free to check that one out if you're a potter fan because it will be getting updated soon and it should tie you over ;D

Anyway, sorry for the long wait. I really do appreciate all of you and all of the wonderful reviews and favorites and follows. I will get back on this as soon as I can. Don't forget to let me know what you think.


	11. Chapter 10

The rest of the week passed in a wonderfully routine manner. Leo and I became a bit wrapped up in each other. I would go to chemo with Jordi, then rest in my room with Leo. After I napped, or at least tried to we would walk around the hospital, or continue Leo's piano lessons, which often became make out sessions.

Everything was going great. Then the men in black suits came. I woke up that morning late as I usually did on non chemo days. I dressed and exited my room. I almost bumped into Nurse Jackson, who seemed to be in a worse mood than usual. Watching as Nurse Jackson blew off Kara as well and then an argument ensued between a haggard looking man with curly black hair and an Asian woman. The woman had come out of Kara and Charlie's room so I went immediately to Kara.

"Kara." I walk up to her quickly.

"Why do you look so excited right now?" Kara asked eyeing me.

"I'm not excited, just really curious. Who are those two fighting?"

"That's Charlie's dad, the terrible guitar player. I'm guessing the woman is his mom. Apparently his dad isn't actually allowed to come see Charlie because it's supposed to be his fault that he's in a coma. Nurse Ratchet – "

"Jackson."

"Whatever. She let him in and now Mrs. Coma Boy has found out and she's not happy."

"But it can't really be his fault, right?"

"No, Charlie told me it to tell him it wasn't, but –"

"You spoke to Charlie too?"

"What do you mean too?"

"Leo told me when he had his big surgery, when he went under, he met Charlie."

"Oh, so he just talks to everybody? What a weirdo."

"Kara, he's in a coma, who else is he going to talk to?" I turn to Kara and raise an eyebrow. She shrugs it off.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go find something to do, while all this drama is happening."

I watch Kara go and shrug. Then I turn to the nurses' station to find Brittany. "Good morning, well afternoon, Brittany." I smile at her.

"Good afternoon Piper, why are you over here?"

"I came to say hi." I give her a shocked look.

"Mmmhmm." She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Jackson is rubbing off on you." I comment as I purse my lips.

"Really?" Brittany's face lights up. And she's back to herself.

"Why is Nurse Jackson in such a bad mood?"

"Oh, people are coming to see Charlie today."

"You mean the arguing couple? Yeah that would put me in a bad mood too."

"No, men in suits. I don't know exactly what they do, but she does not like them."

"Men in suits…I know someone who will know." I smile and turn to head to Leo and Jordi's room.

I'm rushing a bit and accidentally bump into a boy with short dark brown hair, which was quaffed and mysterious brown eyes which stared me down as if trying to figure me out in a moment. He was taller than me by a decent bit. "Watch where you're going." He snapped.

I rolled my eyes at his attempt at intimidation. "Yeah, it's called an accident. I was going to say I was sorry, but since you're clearly a jerk who deserved it, I won't. Bye." I turn away from him and continue on my way to Leo and Jordi's room. "Good afternoon boys!" I greet once I enter.

I then notice Leo is the only one in the room. "I stand corrected. Good afternoon boy." I smile.

"Hey, what's up?" He is in his wheelchair today and rolls over to me. I sit in his lap and let him roll backwards towards his bed. I can't help but giggle a bit every time he takes me for a ride.

"I was actually looking for you because I have a question." I explain, still smiling with my arms around his neck as I lean slightly back to be able to see his face.

"What's the question?"

"Why is Nurse Jackson in such a bad mood today? Brittany said some guys in suits were coming to see Charlie."

Leo's face instantly turns serious. "They're some legal guys. They make all the decisions about what happens with Charlie. She doesn't like them because they only think in legal terms and if they decide to they can send Charlie somewhere else."

"That can't be real. They'd take him away?" My face instantly drops as I sit up and look seriously back at Leo.

"If they decide to, yeah."

"But Charlie will have nobody if they take him away. We're his friends, and all of us are here." I start to get annoyed.

"Whoa, calm down. They aren't even here yet, and we don't know that they're going to send him away." Leo rubs my back and reminds me I'm working myself up over nothing.

"Right," I chuckle dryly. "Sorry, I just can't stand lawyers."

"Nobody can." This really makes me laugh, and I begin to relax into Leo again.

"So, where's Jordi?"

"With Emma, he's got another meeting with that annoying social working lady and she went with him for support."

"Okay, well what are we going today?" Just as I asked his question a slight pain started in my head. I winced.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Leo looks at me for a minute like he's not sure he believes me but then lets it go.

"Alright, well let's see if we can find out what everybody else is doing." I hop off the chair and we head out the door. We hit the service elevator and go down to the lounge. Nobody is there. We head back up to our floor and find the two older men in black suits are already in Charlie's room.

"How is it possible we can't find anybody else?" I say shocked.

"Maybe Jordi's done with the social worker." Leo shrugs and we start back towards the elevator. The pain in my head starts up again. This time I struggle to keep my face normal so Leo doesn't start to worry.

We decide to head up to Emma's room because we figure that's where they would be once the social worker had gone; however once we get there we find Jordi and Emma making out.

"EW!" I call jokingly. They jump apart blushing and stare at us. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." I hold back my laughter.

"Well, since you're obviously busy up here, maybe we should go do that down stairs." Leo joked, but I could also see a hint of hopefulness in his eyes.

"Only if you're lucky." I smile before waving to Emma and Jordi and heading back for the elevator.

Leo follows behind me and when we get back to our floor we notice a very upset Nurse Jackson. "Hey, what happened?" I ask instantly.

"They aren't going to send Charlie away are they?" Leo continued the question.

"They want to." Nurse Jackson answers.

"But they can't. Charlie's still in there, I know he is." Leo starts.

"I believe he is too but –"

"No, I've talked to him before. When I had my surgery, when they put me under I was in the hospital, but nobody else was there, except Charlie. He was playing with this origami dinosaur thing." At this Nurse Jackson looks at Leo like she honestly believes him.

"I believe you, but Charlie's parents have given up and there's not much else I can do about it." Nurse Jackson sighs. I have never seen her so defeated. I turn to Leo with my lips pulled into a tight line.

"We'll figure something out. They can't take Charlie, they just can't." I say and begin to walk away quickly. Leo follows behind me.

"What are we going to do?" He asks as he pulls up beside me.

"I have no idea." I sigh and look at him sadly.

* * *

><p>The day passes slowly and my head doesn't stop hurting. I hide it the best I can from Leo as we try to think of something to do to save Charlie. Unfortunately, by the end of the day the decision is made and we have nothing to show for all our thinking. Charlie is leaving, and we can't stop it.<p>

Dash and Kara reappear, and Leo manages to call out for a six-pack. Neither Dash nor Leo has told me where they manage to get these things and some days it drives me crazy. Leo calls the group to the roof and starts handing out the drinks.

"Charlie is leaving." Leo explains to the group.

"Does that mean I get a single?" Kara asks excitedly. We all just stare at her. "What?"

"To Charlie." Leo holds up his drink and we all toast. Then I see something that I hadn't noticed before.

"What is that?" I stare in awe, moving closer to the edge of the roof. Across the street on top of a posh apartment building is some seriously beautiful graffiti. "That's amazing."

"That wasn't there yesterday." Leo states. All of us move to the edge of the roof and stare at the new artwork.

"Where did it come from?" Jordi wonders out loud.

We all just stand there staring at it for a while, drinking and staring at the new work. We aren't there long before Kara grabs a hold of Leo and whispers something in his ear. He looks concerned and I watch him take her back to the hospital.

Not too long after the head off, Jordi and Emma start getting really mushy and make their way down stairs as well. Only Dash and I are left on the roof top. We stand there still staring at the art for a bit before I speak. "It's really good Dash."

"Yeah, the artist must've meant it for somebody or something." He says back.

"Like maybe a group of friends who spend a lot of time on this roof?" I smile, looking at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I know the smell of spray paint anywhere. I went to a school for the arts remember? Not to mention you lit up like a proud artist when everyone was complimenting your work." I give him a knowing grin.

"You good, like a hot Sherlock Holmes." Dash shook his head at me.

"Well thank you, I – ah!" I bend over and clutch my head. Gasping in shock at the sudden pain.

"Piper! Are you okay?" Dash is supporting me in an instant.

"Yeah, I'm – fine." I breathe heavy, fighting through the pain.

"We gotta get you to Dr. McAndrew." Dash starts to move me towards the door, but I resist.

"No!" I pull back.

"Piper, you need McAndrew, something could be wrong."

"I know! But I need more time." I look at Dash desperately, trying to find a way to explain.

"What do you mean?" The pain in my head subsides and I straighten slowly.

"I know what he's going to say. He won't let me continue chemo, he'll push for the surgery right away and I'm not ready, Dash!"

"You could die."

"I'm not going to wait forever; I just…I haven't told him how I feel yet and if I have this surgery I could never get the chance."

"Leo knows how you feel. And he'll wait until you can talk again to tell him."

"You don't understand. There's a reason Dr. McAndrew was pushing to not wait too long. It's not just because the tumor could become inoperable. If it grows, or has already grown a bit McAndrew could still operate. But it will grow into the part of my brain that controls my memory." I pause to let that sink in. "If I don't tell him that I love him before I have this surgery, I might not get the chance because I might not remember any of you, or any of this. I have to tell him before I tell anyone about my headaches, because when this surgery is over, I might not remember that I loved him, and I can't stand the idea of him never knowing that I did."

Dash stares at me in shock for a moment. "Why didn't you tell us before?"

"I thought the chemo was working. I didn't even know at first, but I was talking with Dr. McAndrew the other day and I got angry at him pushing for the surgery over and over again, and he finally told me." I sigh and roll my eyes trying not t cry. "Dash I don't want to forget any of this, but I don't know if I'll have a choice. I don't want to go back to the girl I was before this, I don't want to forget." The tears start rolling down my cheeks and Dash hugs me.

"You better hurry up and tell Leo that you love him then, because the longer you wait, the better the chance you will." I snort and roll my eyes at Dash. "Hey, But if you do forget, we'll help you remember." Dash smiles at me.

"Thanks." I smile at Dash and hug him again.

"Alright, let's get back down stairs before Leo comes up here looking for you and finds us hugging again. I seen what he did to ya boy Trevor and I don't wanna be on the receiving end of that." I laugh and nod.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Ta-da! Finally gave you all another chapter and I dropped a DRAMA BOMB! Sorry about that, but the idea came to me in the shower and all great ideas are shower ideas so I had to use it. As you can see I am vaguely following the show now, emphasis on VAGUELY. So, anyway, thanks for the loyalty in my horrid updating hour, and as always enjoy!


	12. Chapter 11

I sleep very deeply that night. Between the chemo and the rollercoaster of emotions, I am exhausted. The next morning is chemo; Jordi and I head down together as usual. We talk quite a bit, I try to say as much as I can, because I know it might be my last chemo session with Jordi and I want to enjoy it as much as I can.

We spend the whole time laughing, which would normally anger the old man who does sessions with us, but he isn't there for the first time. I was too afraid to ask what had happened to him when I noticed his absence.

After chemo, we have class. Usually I'd skip class on chemo days to get some rest, but this day was different. This was the day before everything changed. I went to class, and I regretted it. We had a debate we had to partner up for. Luckily, partnering up is a no brainer. I partner with Leo, Jordi and Emma partner up and Dash links himself to a very cute girl who sometimes sits next to me in class.

Leo and I retire to my room to work on the project. It's slow going, only because every few minutes he wants to take a break in order to make out. I protest a bit, but nine times out of ten we do make out. But, we finish the debate fairly easily. I also learn while we are there that he left with Kara the night before because she lost her sight for a bit. That conversation went something like this:

"Hey, so what did Kara pull you away for last night?"

"Oh, um, she went blink for a while, I tried to get her help, but then she disappeared and Brittany and I had to find her."

"She's okay now though, right?"

"Yeah…you aren't mad that I left with Kara without saying anything, are you?"

"She was blind and needed help, why would I be upset?"

"I don't know, I was just wondering."

"Is there something I should be upset about? Something you aren't telling me?"

"What, no – I –"

"Did you have something with Kara too before I got here?"

"No! We're just friends – you –" Leo paused and really looked at me. "You're messing with me again aren't you?"

"You got so scared!" I laughed. "That's really cute! I like that I can make you that nervous. And I like that you care that much." I smiled and leaned in for a kiss. Leo pulled away.

"You don't deserve my kisses after that." He said, pouting.

"Awe, Leo…Leo, can you really resisting kissing me that long?" I raised an eyebrow. We stare at each other for about two minutes.

"No, no I really can't." Leo concedes and we kiss again.

* * *

><p>The next day I wake up late, and am surprised to find that I missed my usually scheduled CAT scan. When I leave the room, I walk up to the front desk and find Kenji and Brittany there.<p>

"Hey, where's Nurse Jackson? She usually wakes me up for my CAT scan." I look between the two of them as they frown.

"She's been suspended."

"What? Why?"

"She falsified Charlie's medical records to keep him here." Kenji sighs.

I immediately go to find the group. Dash, as it turns out has already heard. "We're going to write a letter." He explains.

"Is that really going to work?" I raise an eyebrow.

"We don't know, but it's worth the try."

The boy I bumped into in the hall way is slowly walking closer to us as we talk. "You really think that matters?" He scuffs.

"Excuse me, but who asked you?" Leo starts.

"None of this stuff matters. You guys really think this Nurse whatever cares about you?"

"Who are you anyway?" Leo says.

"Guys, this is Hunter." Kara introduces.

"You know this guy?" Emma asks, annoyed.

I am silent as I stare at him. He is familiar to me, but I can't tell why exactly. Everyone keeps talking around me, but I can't focus on the conversation. "Wait, Hunter?"

"Yeah, that's my name." He rolls his eyes at me.

"Oh my God, Hunter!" A smile breaks across my face suddenly.

"Do I know you?" He stands again, taking a closer look at me this time.

"It's me, Piper!" I watch as the confusion still clouds his face. "You know, Pied Piper." I blush and try to speak as quietly as possible.

He leans in closer, then the recognition dawns across his face as well. "It is you." Hunter smirks. "Well, how about that, Pied Piper is all grown up."

"Yeah, and I haven't been called Pied Piper in years. It's just Piper now. Not like you can talk, look at you."

"How exactly do you guys know each other?" Leo looks up from his cell phone, which has been chiming every few minutes.

"Oh." I chuckle. "We went to the same elementary school."

"Yeah, Piper was always excelling at everything, especially music class, that's how she got the nickname Pied Piper."

"Yeah and Hunt, er, Hunter," I blush and correct myself. "Was always protecting me from the other kids, who used to tease me. We were neighbors too. We used to have sleepovers…" That's when I realize I've said too much and trail off.

"Seriously? You don't really seem like the sleepovers type." Kara raises an eyebrow at Hunter.

"Yeah, what is up with this whole man of mystery façade?" I look at him questioningly.

"It's been a long time since you last saw me Piper." Is all Hunter says in response to that. I can tell there is more to the story, but I don't want to pry just yet.

I shrug and turn to see Leo shooting a hard look between me and Hunter. His phone beeps again and he looks down, then back up at me, rolls his eyes and leaves.

"Hey, Leo, man where are you going? What about this letter?" Dash watches him leave in shock and annoyance.

"I'll go after him. Keep at this Dash, we need Nurse Jackson back." I smile encouragingly before rushing out after Leo. "Leo." He just keeps walking. "Leo!" I rush to catch up. "Will you stop?"

"My friends are here, and I'm going out to eat with them." He states coldly.

"What's wrong with you? You're just going to leave without saying anything?" I stare incredulously at him. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is you getting all buddy, buddy with that guy, who's a total douche!"

"Are you kidding me? You're about to ditch us so you can go hang with some old friends, but when I meet an old friend it's wrong?"

"You were blushing at him."

"You are an idiot! God, why do I always fall in love with idiots?" I huff out, throwing my arms in the air in defeat.

There is a silence that follows and in that space of time it hits me that I've just used 'the L word'. My heart starts pounding hard in my chest as I wait for him to catch this as well.

"Love?" Leo looks at me shocked. I just swallow hard. "You love me?" A smile creeps across his face.

"What do you think, idiot." I grumble a bit, but a smile is also forming on my lips.

"I am an idiot, aren't I?" Leo shakes his head. I shrug as my smile grows. "I love you too." He finally says. Then he pulls me to him with one arm and kisses me soundly.

"This isn't exactly how I pictured telling you." I laugh.

"It just wouldn't have been us if it had happened any other way." Leo laughs as well. "My friends really did just show up. I didn't know they were going to be in town, otherwise I would've told you. They want to go out to get something to eat, will you come with me? They really want to meet you."

"You told them about me?"

"Of course, didn't you just hear me say I love you?" Leo jokes as I lightly punch his arm. "So will you come?"

"I'm actually feeling really tired. The chemo is kicking my butt. I'm going to nap and then help Dash get this letter done." I smile apologetically, then kiss Leo again gently. "Tell your friends I'm really sorry I couldn't make, but if they want to come up after you guys lunch I'd love to meet them."

"It's okay, they'll understand. And if they don't I'll make them." He jokes. "I'll see you when I get back." We kiss one more time, then Leo hops on the elevator and heads down to meet his friends.

I head back into the lounge only to find that nobody is there anymore. I can't even think of where they might've gone. I head back out and start wandering the halls looking for any sign of them. I'm just about to give up when I see them rushing away from someone, dressed in surgery gear, further down the hall from me. I start towards them, but the pain in my head starts again. I double over in shock.

This time I know I can't hold off telling someone. I run back towards the nurses' station on my floor. My vision starts to blur. I see Kenji just a few steps away from me. "Kenji!" I manage to call before the ground tilts from under me and everything goes black.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>I know this chapter is kind of short, but I hope you guys like it anyway. My updating will continue to be a bit slow over the next few weeks as the holidays are coming up and that's a crazy time for my family. But I promise I am not abandoning this fic. I will finish it, you'll just have to wait a bit in between chapters.


	13. Chapter 12

When I open my eyes I'm on the main floor of the hospital. It's like I never had the pain in my head and I never fell over. There is a split second where I honestly believe I imagined it, but then I realize how empty the place is. Emptier than a hospital could ever be.

"Hello?" I cal out, not entirely sure who it is I'm calling for.

Then I see a face I actually recognize, one I've never seen awake before. He has brown eyes, and when he smiles I see a mouth full of metal. "Piper, nice to finally meet you." Charlie says coming around the corner.

"Charlie!" I smile back. "You have braces." Then I mentally smack myself. I finally meet the kid and this is my brilliant first impression. "It's great to finally have a conversation with you."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to tell you, you're really great for Leo."

"You can really hear us?"

"Yeah, it sort of drives me crazy. But I'm really glad you guys talk to me, and stick up for me. It can get boring in here sometimes."

"I can imagine. You know, Leo told me you helped him out when he had his surgery. I hear you talk to all the Red Banders when they pop in. I was almost looking forward to my surgery because of it." I chuckle. Charlie smiles again.

"Yeah, well glad to know people like talking to me. But I really wish I could wake up."

"I know, and you will. You just need one more push. Hey I got a question for you." Charlie's face turns from one of sadness to one of interest. "Have you ever left the hospital? I mean, can we go outside while we're here?"

"No!" Charlie shakes his head feverishly. "It's not really outside. I think this is like an in between for your mind. If you walk out then you go away…for good."

"Okay, swiping that idea from my brain permanently." I bite my lip.

"Hey, wanna see something really cool?" Charlie perks up, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah!" Charlie closes his eyes and then just vanishes from right in front of me. "Holy crap, that is cool!" I say in awe. "Charlie?" He still doesn't return. I start to walk a bit. "Is this hide and seek, because I'm not very good at that game." I call out into the silent hospital. "Charlie?" I start to worry. What if he wasn't coming back? What did that mean?

"Charlie?" I hear a deeper voice call somewhere in the distance.

"Hello?" I call out.

"Charlie?" The voice calls back confused. I move towards it.

"No, it's Piper. Who's there?" I keep heading towards the voice. It becomes more recognizable with each step.

"Piper? It's Dash." I round the corner and run right into him. "Whoa!" He catches me before we crash.

"Dash!" I hug him, then pull back. "Wait, why are you here? Are you okay, what's going on?"

"I missed my treatments, started coughing and then passed out. What are you doing here, everyone thought you were napping. You aren't in a coma are you?"

"Well, I hope not! I was going to find you guys but my head started hurting really bad, so I tried to get to the nurses' station. I passed out before I made it though."

"Damn, that sucks." Dash sighed. "This place is going to hell without Nurse Jackson, man!"

"Yeah, I know." I shake my head.

"Where's Charlie?"

"I don't know." I pause. "We met, and were talking. Then he asked if I wanted to see something cool. When I said yes he closed his eyes and vanished. But now I can't find him. I'm starting to think that's not what he meant to show me either. Has he ever vanished like this before?"

"I don't know I've never met him." Dash answers.

"What do you think happened to him?"

Dash shrugs.

"Dash, I feel funny." I say. He looks at me worried. "Is it possible to faint after you've already fainted?"

"I don't know, but try not to!" Dash grabs my arm.

"I don't think I can control it!" Everything starts to go dark again. "Dash?"

* * *

><p>I wake up in my room at Ocean Park. The first thing I see is my Harry Potter poster, from the sixth book midnight release. I scan the room, trying to get my bearings. Then I notice Leo in his chair beside my bed. His head is down like he's fallen asleep and his hand is resting limply on my bed.<p>

I move my hand so I'm holding his. His head jerks up and as he starts to focus our eyes lock. "Hey." I smile.

"Hey, you're up. I'll go get Nurse Jackson." Leo rushes the words out, then starts to push his chair back.

"No, wait!" I stop him quickly, squeezing his hand.

"What is it?" He scoots in closer, squeezing my hand back.

"Can you just sit here with me for a moment?" Leo nods, but says nothing. He turns to look out the window. I sigh. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Why didn't you tell me about the headaches? Why didn't you tell me anything?" He finally snaps.

"I didn't want you to worry. I was also afraid at first that you would make me go straight to McAndrew, and I needed to tell you how I felt first."

"And after that?"

"After that you left to spend time with your friends. I was going to tell McAndrew about it after we sorted out the Nurse Jackson issue, but then my head started hurting again and I passed out before I could talk to anyone."

"I would've stayed with you if you had told me. I didn't have to go with my friends, they would've understood." Leo sighs. "If you had told me I could've been with you. I would've caught you!"

"I know!" I shout back, then sigh. "I know that. But I didn't know it was going to happen. When I told you to go, I really was feeling alright. I didn't want to worry you, and that completely backfired, so I'm sorry. I should've told you."

"We're in this together, you get that don't you? If you don't tell me things, I can't be there for you when you need me and that hurts me." Leo sighed, squeezing my hand a little tighter. "I need you to start trusting me to handle these things. I need you not to keep things from me, Piper."

We lock eyes again, and for a moment I say nothing. "Okay, I won't keep anything else from you."

"Good, now let me go get Jackson. She's been worried about you."

"Wait, there's one more thing I haven't told you yet. It's something you really need to know. McAndrew told me if this tumor grows it can grow into the part of my brain that controls memory. If that's what the pain in my head signifies, then there is a chance I won't remember you once the surgery is over." I rush it out without looking at him.

The information is met with silence for a minute. When I finally bring myself to look at Leo, there is a determination in his eyes I have not yet seen. "I won't lose you. If you don't remember me, I'll remember enough for us both, and I'll make you remember."

"I was a different person before I came here Leo. I might not listen to you." I shake my head.

"Then I'll just have to make you fall in love with me all over again." He smirks.

I look at him in complete shock for a moment. Then a smile breaks across my face. "I love you; you are crazy, and a bit full of yourself. But I do love you." I chuckle.

"And I love you. You should be happy I'm this confident, it means there's no way I'm giving up." Leo winks. "Now let me get Nurse Jackson." He rolls towards the door.

"Wait, Jackson is back?" I sit up quickly.

"You might not be as smart as people think you are." I toss a pillow at Leo's back, but it misses and just lands halfway out my door with a barely audible thud.

"Bring my pillow when you come back!" I call after him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>I know this isn't as long as they usually are, but I just wanted to give you guys something. Next chapter Piper finds out where Charlie went! Also, coming up soon, the surgery and Leo gives Piper her very own red band. Hope you guys enjoyed this one!


	14. Chapter 13

Nurse Jackson comes in with a smile on her face, and it throws me for a loop. "What's going on? Why are you so happy?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"Charlie's awake!" She sings.

"What?" I sit up, shocked. "What the hell Leo! Why didn't you tell me?" I round on him.

"I've been in here with you! I didn't even know." He throws his hands up in surrender.

"Mmmhmm." I eye him in mock disbelief for a moment before two dots in my head connect. "Oooh! This makes so much sense now!" I smile in satisfaction.

"What?" Jackson and Leo ask at the same time.

"Charlie and I were talking and he disappeared on me. I tried to ask Dash where he went but he didn't know either." After the words left my mouth I realized how anywhere else I would sound insane.

"Oh, yeah you got to talk to him?" Leo nodded with a smile.

"Well, good, because he's not moving yet." Nurse Jackson sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"He's been in a coma a long time. He's got to get his brain on the same page again. Actually he's a lot like you'll probably be once you get out of surgery. Which, just so you know Dr. McAndrew has already scheduled." Nurse Jackson eyed me, daring me to protest. I sighed.

"When?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"What?"

"Piper, there is a tumor in your brain and you just passed out. We don't have any more time to wait." Nurse Jackson cut me off and gave me no room to argue.

"Yeah, alright, I understand."

"Good, now when you feel up to it, come say hi to Charlie." She smiled as she finished checking me over and put her stethoscope back around her neck. "He's awake!" She sang again, before turning and leaving the room.

"Do you wanna come visit Charlie?" Leo asked after Jackson left.

"Not just yet. I'm still really tired and I want to be able to shower and dress." Looking down I noticed I was still in my clothes from the day before. Then I looked at Leo. "Your hair is coming back." I smiled softly.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "How does it look?"

"I don't know…" I pursed my lips, trying to decide how I felt. "I guess I can get used to it." I teased.

"If it looks too bad, I'll shave it off." Leo laughed.

"Good, I'll let you know if it doesn't grow on me…I made a punny." I grinned.

"I'm not happy with you for that one." Leo shook his head.

"You don't like puns?"

"I don't think so."

"This relationship isn't going to work if you can't learn to love the puns." I shook my head.

"Yeah, alright." Leo leaned in to give me a quick kiss. "Get cleaned up. I'm going to go see Charlie and then check on Dash." He rolled out of the room.

After getting dressed I walked over to Charlie and Kara's room. The group wasn't there anymore. I walked in and smiled as I looked down at him. "I told you you'd wake up." He blinked. "You look good, kid. I'm really happy for you." I sighed and for a second I could've swore a hint of a concern on his face. "My big surgery is coming up soon. In about two days time we'll be twins." I chuckle humorlessly. "I'm scared. Charlie. I feel like I'm going into this all alone, and I might come out alone too. I don't want to forget any of this."

Charlie blinked twice. "Yeah, I know everyone believes I won't, but I'm not so sure. I keep getting this terrible feeling that all of this is going to be over soon." Charlie blinked twice again. "Alright, fine, I won't think like that. Thanks for listening." One blink.

"Hey." I turn to see Jordi at the door.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Come here for a second."

"I'll be right back Charlie." One blink again. Outside the room I see Leo, Jordi, Dash and Emma. "What's up, guys?"

"We want to get something nice for Charlie since he won't be able to move for a bit. We want something for him too look at or something." Leo explained.

"Are you going to try to get him a picture of a half naked woman, because his mom will be here and that's a bad idea."

"Good point, but actually we want to get him a stripper because that's better than just a picture of boobs." Dash answered. I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, first, it's good to see you up and moving." I nod to Dash. "Second, what makes you think you'll be able to get a stripper?"

"I have my ways." Dash nodded confidently.

"Well, I admire your confidence, sir."

"So, are you coming with us?" Leo asked hopefully.

"No." I sigh sadly. "Jackson will never let me leave, not with everything that's happened."

"Yeah, I guess not. We won't be gone long." Leo promised.

"Alright, I'll be here, keeping Charlie company." I smiled, seeing them off.

After the rest of the group left I went back to Charlie's room, but his parents, Nurse Jackson, Dr. McAndrew, and another woman doctor with short brown hair are all in there looking over him. I turned back around to leave and ran right into a man with dark shin, black short hair and a five o'clock shadow.

"Sorry young one, are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I was just leaving." I smiled sheepishly, and turned tried to leave again. But we had caught the attention of everyone else in the room.

"Piper, what are you doing here?" McAndrew asked.

"I'm just checking in on Charlie, but you guys look busy so I'll come back later." When I finally rush out of the room and away from everyone, I end up running right into Hunter.

"Whoa! Are you running into me like this on purpose?" He smirked, helping me right myself.

"I'm really not, I swear." I chuckle. "What are you up to?" That's when I noticed the blonde woman next to him. "Ashley?" I smiled.

"Yeah?" She looked me over, trying to figure out how I knew her.

"Ash, you remember Piper right?" Hunter helped her.

"Yeah, hey Piper! Look at you, all grown up. Last time I saw you, you were half as tall." Ashley smiled and hugged me.

"Yeah, I know. It's really been too long, hasn't it?" I grinned back. "How have you been?"

"Good days and bad. You know how that is." Ashley sighed. "So, what are you doing here? Visiting your brother, or…?" Ashley looked into the window of the room I'd just come from. I thought about it and realized that it would probably look like exactly that if you didn't know I had a cancer.

"No…actually, I have a brain tumor." I chuckled dryly. "Having surgery to remove it in two days."

"Wait, when did that happen?" Hunter asked.

"I passed out yesterday while you guys were running around, and McAndrew doesn't want to risk things getting worse, so when I woke up today they told me I was having surgery day after tomorrow."

"Wow, Piper, I'm so sorry." Ashley answered.

"Don't be. My chances are good. It will take some time to recover, but other than that, I should be doing great." I smiled, trying to keep the mood from turning dark. "Anyway, I gotta go find Kara, so I'll see you guys later. It was really nice seeing you again, Ashley." I excused myself. I didn't think Ashley realized it, but the look on her face when I told her the news; it was the look of someone who thought they were staring at a dead person. It was the one look no sick person wanted to see.

I did end up finding Kara after a rushed away from Hunter and Ashley. She was with Brittany, meditating. "Hey, Piper!" Brittany chirped. "Want to join us?"

"Um, no, that's okay. Why are you guys meditating?"

"I have this theory that if we do nothing, and put good vibes out into the universe, the universe will do good things for us in return." Brittany smiled.

"Oh…well, I hate to break it to you but I don't think the universe answers selfish calls." I looked pointedly at the two of them.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm pretty sure you have to be selfless for the universe to want to help you."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but it seems you're wrong." Kara smirked in triumph, pulling my attention to Hunter and Ashley having an argument outside in the Zen garden.

"Wait, are you jealous of Ashley?" I smirked at Kara.

"You know her?" Kara looked at me horrified. "How long have they been together? You and Hunter stopped hanging out ages ago. Is she another childhood friend?"

Realizing that Kara thought Hunter was dating Ashley, I had to force myself not to laugh as I started talking again. "Are you kidding? Ashley's known Hunter even longer than I have." I answered.

"Well, maybe the universe is helping." Kara smiled excitedly at Brittany and the quickly went back to meditating. I smiled as I left them to their meditation. I sort of wanted to stay and watch Kara make a fool of herself before she found out that Ashley was Hunter's sister, but I really wanted to practice also.

I was in my room, playing a song when the man I had run into earlier popped up at my door. "Excuse me?" He smiled.

"Um…yes?" I looked at him confused.

"Might I borrow your voice for a bit?" I just raised a confused eyebrow at him. "It's for Charlie."

"Yeah, alright." I answered hesitantly, following him to Charlie's rom. No one else was in there, and Charlie was still staring without moving.

"I'm Dr. Neday, since we haven't been properly introduced." Neday, the doctor I knew Jackson had been suspended for trying to get, held out his hand for me to shake.

"I'm Piper, Charlie's friend." I smiled politely, taking his hand, a bit surprised at his gentle grip. "What exactly did you want me to do?"

"Well, Charlie's parents have told me, he is very fond of music, and as I was heading back to him with my guitar I heard you singing and I thought you could help me try to help Charlie, by singing a song for him."

"Okay, do you really think that might help?"

"We must give Charlie reasons to come back to us. Remind him of the things he loves so his brain grows strong with the desire to move the rest of his body." Neday smiled. "Now, what was that song you were singing when I passed?" Neday positioned himself with his guitar, ready to play whatever I told him to.

"Count on Me by Bruno Mars, do you know it?"

"Yes, that is a talented young man, alright, I'll play you in." Neday smiled brightly and played the opening chords of Count on Me.

Not knowing what else to do, I turned to Charlie and started to sing.

_If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea_

_I'll sail the world to find you_

_If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see_

_I'll be the light, to guide you._

"That was brilliant!" Neday smiled brightly as I finished singing.

"Thanks." I was still unsure about him, but I was polite none-the-less. I looked at Charlie who was just staring forward. "Did you like it Charlie?" One blink, then one blink again after a minute. "Well, thank you." I laughed. "I'll come back to check on you later, okay?" One blink. "Alright, cool. Nice to meet you, Dr. Neday." I smiled politely as Charlie's dad came in. I nodded at him and left them alone.

After that, I went to my room to nap. I was woken from my nap by Leo. "Hey." He smiled when my eyes focused on him.

"Hey." I yawned. "What's up? Did you guys get everything for Charlie?"

"No, actually we lost everything." He sighed.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I sat up, taking his hand. "We can still do pizza though."

"Yeah, actually it's already here. That's why I came to get you."

I hopped out of the bed and Leo and I went down to Charlie's room to celebrate him waking up. We ate pizza with our friends and talked. It wasn't the crazy stripper party the guys had wanted, but I thought Charlie appreciated it anyway. Plus, as we were eating we realized that the pet they had gotten Charlie came back.

"Well, it was supposed to be a puppy, but they didn't have any." Jordi explained as I looked at the Iguana.

"Oh, well this is way cooler than a puppy anyway." I laughed. "Don't you agree Charlie?" I showed him the Iguana and got one blink in response. "See? You guys did great."

After we all ate, we said goodnight to Charlie, just as Kara came in to shoo us all away. Even though she did it in her normal rude way, there was something lighter in her voice. She looked happy, despite her fussing.

Leo walked me back to my room and we sat down on the bed together. He was looking down the whole time, not saying much.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"Us." He answered. Then finally looking at me, he slid off the second to last red band on his wrist and took my hand. "I realized earlier that we offered you a chance to be a red bander with us, but I never gave you a band. Honestly, I didn't know which band to give you at first. But now I realize the answer should've been obvious." He slid the band onto my wrist, smiling softly. "This is the first red band I ever received. I want you to have it, because every moment since this first band has led me to you."

I looked down at the band on my wrist, then back up at Leo with a smile. "It's crazy how all the sweetest things that have ever happened to me involve you."

"I try." Leo shrugs.

"You succeed." I corrected, then leaned in to kiss him. That kiss was so much like our first, sweet and a bit shy. Passionate, but not rough, and there was nothing else that mattered in that moment. I could stay like that forever and never want anything else. But we do eventually pull apart.

"I have PT in the morning tomorrow." Leo said after a minute.

"I think I have a CAT scan, the last one before my surgery." I sighed.

"I'll see you after then?"

"Definitely." Leo gave me one more kiss before leaving me for the night. I slept well that night, dreaming of music and a kiss.


	15. Chapter 14

"I might let me go home!" That was the first thing Leo said to me when we met up after my CAT scan.

"Oh…" I should've been happy for him, almost seven months in this place, and he would finally be back in his house and his bed. I shouldn't have been so selfish. I had to muster up something better than just that 'oh'. "Wow, that's so great!" I smiled brightly, but by the look on his face I could tell he heard how forced to sounded.

"Piper, I not just going to disappear on you." He grabbed my hand lovingly.

"No! I'm not upset, and I'm not worried." I sighed and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, I was just shocked. That wasn't what I was expecting to hear today." I chuckled lightly. "I really am happy for you, Leo. I mean, look at you. You're cancer free, your hair is coming back, and you're walking on that leg without a crutch! This is a huge difference in just the month that we have known each other."

"You're okay, then? If I go home you won't be mad, or think I'm abandoning you?"

"Well, you are going to come visit me right?" Leo nodded vigorously. "Then why would I be mad? That's what we're all hoping for right? To get out of here. We can't spend the rest of our lives in a hospital, that's not really living."

"So, I never did ask where you live." Leo said suddenly.

"Yeah, why do you wanna know? Are you gonna stalk me when I get out of here?" I teased.

"No, I just want to know how far I'm going to have to travel to give you a real first date."

"I live in Santa Ana." I smile.

"You're kidding." Leo smiles back.

"No, why?"

"I live in L.A.; we aren't that far from each other!"

"I can't believe that! I go into L.A. all the time, for concerts and stuff. I can't believe we never ran into each other."

"It's fate."

"Wow! Are you trying to win an award for corniest man alive?" I laughed.

"No, I'm being serious. Think about it, we lived close to each other all these years and never once bumped into each other. Then we both end up at the same hospital, and finally meet. You don't think fate plays a role in that?"

"I don't believe in fate or destiny. I don't like the idea of some divine being having planned out all the major moments of your life for you before you even knew what life was."

"Not all the major moments…"

"Just this particular one?"

"Exactly."

As we walked back to our floor we heard singing. "Well that's not Dr. Neday." I said, as we followed the sound into and looked into the window of the room housing the pop star Delaney Shaw. She was singing for a small crowd of people, among them Dash. "You think he's smitten or just trying to get laid again?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Leo raised an eyebrow at me.

"I feel like this hospital is getting more musical by the minute." I rolled my eyes. I hadn't told any of my friends I'd known Delaney back before she was Delaney Shaw, the pop star. Back when she was just Laney and getting all the solos at the concerts our school put on. "Let's go see Emma. I heard she had a meeting with her therapist today. I wonder what they said." I pulled Leo away from the window before Delaney could see me. Hunter was a blast from the past I'd welcomed, Delaney wasn't.

"You seem a bit hostel towards Delaney Shaw. What are you afraid she's going to steal the spot light?" Leo joked.

"I don't like her, okay?" I gave him a look that clearly said we were dropping the conversation. We rode the rest of the way up the elevator in silence.

Emma was in her room wringing her hands when we got there. "Hey." She turned and offered a fake smile. Jordi walked out of the bathroom a minute later and smiled at us.

"Did she tell you?" He is smiling brightly.

"No, we just got here." I smile at Jordi but look at Emma cautiously. "What's up, Emma?"

"My therapist thinks I'm doing really well. She thinks I might be allowed to go home." Nothing about Emma looks pleased.

"Wow, you too?" I said as I turned to Leo.

"Leo?" Emma looked at him shocked.

"Yeah, my PT instructor says I'm doing really well and my cancer is gone, my hair's growing back. He thinks if the powers that be agree with him I should be able to go home." Leo smiled brightly. "We're both getting out of here, Em!"

He goes over to hug Emma, she hugs back but there is no excitement on her face. She notices me looking and starts to smile.

"Hey, I'm gonna go see if Delaney Shaw will get me time with her manager." Jordi says, then walks out. I roll my eyes after him, without really meaning to.

"I'm going to go check on Charlie." I smile tightly. "You guys have fun talking about the big move." I eye Emma pointedly. As I walk down the hall I bump into a very determined looking Kara.

"Hey, do you have a condom?" She says coming up to me.

"Excuse me?" I say in shock, and quickly move around her and towards my room where I can close the door in her face without her having the right to come in anyway.

"A condom." She says more slowly. "You know, little rubber-"

"Kara!" I cut her off. "I heard you the first time. The 'excuse me' was one of shock, not misunderstanding."

"What's so shocking about it?"

"Really?" We get to my room and I turn to look at her. "You only just got together with Hunter, that's one. You asked me for a condom, that's two. You don't think it's weird that a hospital patient would ask another for said condom and somehow be shocked to find that other patients don't usually carry them around, that's three. Did I leave anything out?" I pause and she opens her mouth, but I hold my hand up. "Wait, don't answer that. Most people here are more worried about surviving the night than getting laid, sorry. You might have a great chance asking Delaney Shaw, or maybe look on one of the other floors. But I'm not the person to ask."

"You mean to tell me, you and Leo haven't had sex yet? Haven't you been together like, forever?"

"It's been a few weeks, that's hardly forever." I roll my eyes at her. "Seriously Kara, truth be told, I'm a virgin and I'm not about to give that up after a few weeks."

"Oh my God! Really?" Kara yells way too loudly.

"Yes, Kara, really. Girls our age can still be virgins, surprise!" I turn around and walk into my room. Kara pushes her way in behind me. "What!?"

"Why haven't you done it yet? Didn't you and Leo already say all that mushy I love you stuff?"

"Yeah, and if he really loves me, he'll wait. I'd like to at least not be dying my first time."

"But, what if you die before you get the chance?"

"I- " I had planned to round on Kara, but the comment wasn't what I was expecting from her. I hadn't really thought up an answer for that one. I could die a virgin. Suddenly all of Dash's hard work to get laid made a lot more sense. What's worse, Kara also made me realize that I didn't know if Leo was a virgin too.

"Looks like I'm not the only one with her priorities mixed up. You should look into getting laid." Kara smiled and walked out, still in pursuit of a condom.

* * *

><p>After my talk with Kara I spent the rest of the day avoiding Leo. So many things were on my mind that hadn't been; I just couldn't bring myself to face him. Not to mention after the conversation with Kara I kept trying to imagine Leo naked every time I saw him and that made me blush. I couldn't bring myself to tell him why I kept blushing, so I just kept my distance.<p>

Something else was bothering me also. Emma's face wouldn't leave my mind, so I went to find her and find out what was really the problem. She was in the garden, walking aimlessly when I found her.

"Hey." I smiled.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Let's talk." I motioned to a bench we were heading towards and we took a seat. "What's wrong?" I asked when we sat.

"What do you mean?"

"Most of us would be thrilled to hear we might be getting out. Not you. You look more like someone told you your dog died."

"I'm excited."

"Stop lying."

There was a long pause in the conversation as we stared each other down. Finally Emma sighed. "I've been lying." She said suddenly. "To my therapists, to my group, to the doctors, to Jordi! I'm not okay, and everybody thinks I am, and I keep waiting for someone to see that I'm lying and they never do! Jordi thinks he's cured me, the doctors think they've cured me, the therapist…all they want is for me to tell them they did well and I'm fixed. But I'm not."

"So why are you lying?" I snap at her. "What, are you trying to prove a point? Do you want them to all feel bad when you end up back here because you were such a good liar?"

"No! I just want someone to notice –"

"Congratulations, I'm noticing. So are you going to go back and tell the truth?"

"Why are you mad at me? They're the ones who think I'm okay to go."

"Because you lied to them! Because you said everything just right and they thought you were honest, but you aren't. I don't know about you sometimes Emma. Sometimes it honestly feels like you like being a victim. Sometimes it feels like you don't care if you die so long as you come out looking sad and helpless and it was everyone else's fault. But it's not! This is your choice. You chose to lie. You are choosing to not get the help you need. You are doing this to yourself, not the other way around." I don't give her time to answer. I get up off the bench and walk away.

Leo was back at the PT office, finding out if he could go home by the time I got back to my room. I didn't go straight there, I walked. I walked around the whole hospital and then walked all the floors inside it. Emma was also getting the news as to whether or not she could go home and I really hoped she would tell someone the truth and let them help her.

When I finally headed in the direction of my room to wait for Leo's news, I saw a very worried Kara leaning against the wall outside Hunter's room. "Kara?" I rushed over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Hunter had a fever and he passed out." She said, looking more worried than I'd ever seen her.

"Is he okay, what's happening?" I asked.

"I don't know, but his parents are in there, that's bad right? When they call in the parents it's bad?"

"I don't know." I shook my head. "I have to go though, keep me posted, okay?"

Kara nodded, barely listening anyway. I checked my watch and moved faster. I was pressing the button to get on the elevator when it dinged. Leo waas inside and he didn't look happy.

"I'm sorry." I said, knowing at once what it meant. I entered the elevator and hugged him. "I'm so sorry."

He sighed into my shoulder. "It's okay. I didn't really want to go anywhere with you having your surgery tomorrow anyway." He smiled, and pulled back to look at my face. "It's really better this way. I mean I was going to be here every day for you, might as well not do any moving at all." His smile didn't completely reach his eyes and I just hugged him again.

Then I pressed the button to take us up to Emma's floor. "Let's see if Emma's staying too." I smiled hopefully. When we got there though, she was packing. I sighed in disappointment, instantly knowing what it meant. "So, you're leaving?"

"Yeah, they said I was doing really well and I could go home. My dad's downstairs." She smiled, not meeting my eyes. Jordi came in looking both sad and proud. I just shook my head and walked away. I left Emma, Jordi and Leo behind to say their goodbyes and finally made it to my room.

After Emma was gone Leo came to see me. "What was that all about?"

"She's not better."

"Yeah she is! The doctors all thought so." Leo looked me over, confused.

"She's been lying."

"Well, why didn't you say anything?"

"There's no point. She has to want it, or no amount of time here will fix her." I looked at him seriously. "Don't say anything, she'll be back."

"How do you know?"

"I have faith, one way or another she'll be back. I just hope next time she wants to get better." I sighed as Leo came to sit next to me.

"Alright, so next question, why have you been avoiding me all day?"

"I haven't –" The look on his face told me there was no point in lying. "I talked to Kara. She was looking for a condom," Leo made a face at that. "Yeah, okay, but I told her I was a virgin and she said something that actually got me thinking."

"About?" Leo clearly did not expect the conversation to go in that direction.

"About us. What if I die on the table tomorrow?"

"You won't."

"But, what if I do? I'd die a virgin, and I'm not sure that's something I want."

"What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying…let's have sex?"

"Are you saying it, or asking a question?" Leo teased.

"Leo, I'm being serious."

"Because of something Kara said?" Leo raised and eyebrow at me and I shrugged. "No."

"What, why?" I asked, hurt.

"Because I love you, and you told me before there was a chance you might not remember any of this after your surgery. I'm not going to do this if you won't remember it or me afterwards." Leo was looking at me, holding my hand gently.

"But what if I don't care if I don't remember? I mean if I die it won't matter anyway, right?"

"But it does matter, because _when _you wake up, if you don't remember do you know how much harder it will be for you? 'Hey I'm your boyfriend and also your first, sorry you don't remember me' is not a great first impression to make. You'll already have too much to deal with, relearning you had a tumor, and had surgery to remove it. Relearning you've been in this hospital a month and made all these friends you don't know, relearning how to walk and talk. I'm not going to force you to relearn that some guy who is a stranger t you know took your virginity."

I just stared at Leo for a moment. "You really are the most wonderful man." I smiled and kissed him soundly. "You're right; I don't know what I was doing listening to Kara." I laughed, trying to hide the definite blush coloring my cheeks.

"It's alright, surgery makes us all antsy. Jordi ran around the hospital before his surgery. I broke up with Emma because I thought I was going to die."

"Wait, what?" I raised an eyebrow to him.

"Obviously, that was actually a great idea." Leo tried to recover.

"MmmHmm. How about you just kiss me, remind me how much you love me and let me get some sleep?" I suggested.

"I love you; you are amazing and wonderful, goodnight." Leo planted a kiss on my forehead before getting up and leaving. I just laughed as I watched him go.

"I love you too." I said as soon as he got to the door. Then I settled in for my last night of sleep before the big surgery.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>I made a decision to turn this into two or three stories. So next chapter will be the last. This will give me time to finish up my other ff and then devote more attention to the second part of the Piper/Leo saga. Next chapter is surgery day! Also, thanks to Delaney Shaw, I won't need an OC for Dash. Anyway, hope you enjoy. I'll be posting next chapter fairly quickly.


	16. Chapter 15

The next morning Nurse Jackson woke me up. "Morning Piper, today's the day." She began moving around me and checking all my vitals.

"Morning…is it normal to be really nervous?"

"Yep, but don't worry, McAndrew won't let anything happen to you."

"Except the loss of the use of all of my limbs." I rolled my eyes, looking longingly at my piano.

"You aren't going down too early; you'll have time to play a little before we have to get you ready." Nurse Jackson smiled at me. "In fact, I have to go check on Charlie." She finished her usual check up and nodded. "You are good to go for the day; we'll be back for you at 1:00."

She left as I turned to my clock. It was 10:00. I had three hours before my big surgery. It felt like no time at all. I was pretty sure nobody would even be waking up until around noon. I had two hours of nothing to do, but worrying.

"Hey." I turned in shock to see Leo walking in.

"Hey! What are you doing up so early?" I walked him walk over to sit next to me on the bed.

"I asked Kenji to wake me up right around the time Jackson was going to be waking you up so I could spend all morning with you before the surgery." He smiled at me.

"Thanks. I'm really nervous." I admitted, and he grabbed my hand.

"I know, but you don't have to be. I'll be right outside the door waiting for you the whole time, and I won't leave your bedside until I see these eyes open." Leo caressed my cheek. I chuckled lightly.

"You'll have to share the room with my parents. I'm sure my mom will love to meet you." I thought about all the time they would have to question him without me as a buffered and began to worry on a whole different level.

"I'm not worried about that. I think once they see how dedicated I am they'll love me too." Leo winked.

"You really are so confident in yourself." I rolled my eyes, but I appreciated having Leo there. He was distracting me from the bigger worry, the more serious side of what was about to happen.

"So, what do you want to do this morning?" Leo asked.

There was quiet except the beeping of monitors all over our floor. "I want to take a walk, and then I want to play for as long as I can. And when everyone wakes up, I wanna say goodbye." Leo gave me a look like he was about to protest this idea. "Not in case I die." I quickly began to explain. "In case I don't remember you all when I wake up. I want to say goodbye so when I say hello for the first time again nobody feels weird. Goodbyes just help solidify ending and I want there to be some kind of ending before we begin again."

"Alright, I can accept that." Leo nodded as he understood what I was saying. "So, have you finally accepted that there will be a beginning again?"

"You're so confident, how could I not believe it?" I laughed.

"Good, I'm glad. Now get dressed so we can take that walk." Leo got up to leave the room so I could change.

"You can stay; I'll change in the bathroom since I have to shower anyway." I smiled, pulling him back to his sitting position on the bed. I grabbed some clothes and went to get ready.

After I was dressed we made our way to the gardens. We walked and talked as the sun and a gentle breeze warmed and then cooled our skin. The smell of daisies and jasmine filled the air as we walked through the flowers. A distant hum of bee wings mingled with morning bird songs and we just walked the stone path. There was nothing to be said.

We stayed in the garden thirty minutes, just enjoying the rare peace of the morning. It was hard to find peace like that in a hospital, especially when you were surrounded by teens that make drama on top of that. But there, in that moment, Leo and I were at peace.

When we got back to our floor people were stirring. We made our way to my room and sat ourselves on the piano bench. Just as we were settled in Jordi, Dash and Kara walked in. "Hey guys!" I smiled, though we were all painfully aware of Emma's lack of presence.

"Hey, what's up? It's the big day." Dash smiled.

"Yeah, how long have you got?" Jordi looked at the clock and I followed his eyes.

"About thirty minutes, and my parents should be on the way now." I sighed; it was already 11:15. "Did you bring your guitar?" I look back at Jordi.

"Yep." He holds it up.

"What's that for?" Kara asked, eyeing us suspiciously.

"I know you hate this sing-a-long stuff, but I might not even remember that's you're actually kind of a good person by the end of the day, and I'm not really good at goodbyes, but I'm good at music. So Jordi and I have worked on a song that I'm dedicating to all of you, and Charlie, and Emma because you are my friends and I love you guys, even if I don't remember this later I know you all will. Feel free to sing along if you know the song." I joke before cueing Jordi. He starts and I join in.

_What would you think if I sand out of tune?_

_Would you stand up and walk out on me?_

_Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song_

_And I'll try not to sing out of key._

_Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends_

_Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends._

I looked pointedly at Dash when I hit those lyrics and everyone laughed. As I started the next verse Jordi jumped in and we sang together. By the chorus Dash and Leo had hopped in as well. We kept singing as Kara sat there, trying to pretend she felt the entire situation. But as we all turned to her and kept singing, her face broke a bit and finally by "Do you need anybody?" She was singing with us.

The whole song we sang together, and when we finished, most of us off key, we laughed. But when the final chord was played and our laughed had settled there was a silence in the room. In that silence I stood from the piano and hugged Jordi and Dash. Then Leo stood and pulled Kara into us and we all stood there hugging in an awkward circle, but none of us spoke and not one of us cried. It wasn't a beginning or an end just yet, it just was.

* * *

><p>By the time my parents came, my friends had left to give us private time. They had all promised to be in the lounge waiting for news. Delaney had passed my room and realized we were in the same hospital, just before my parents arrived. She tried to be nice, but I brushed her off. She tried to ask me questions but I told her to leave.<p>

Leo was with me the whole time. When I finally got Delaney out of my room, he asked me for the whole story of my hatred of Delaney Shaw.

"We used to be best friends." I started, realizing I might never get the chance to tell him the story again. "We did everything together, back when she was just Laney that is. She had that voice, even back then. Got all the solos, everyone wanted to work with her. She used to tell me I was the only one not using her for her talents. We spent time together because we were friends and I liked her as a person, and she liked me. She was my only friend. Then she got famous, started to get herself an image and famous friends. She had less time for me. But we still managed to see each other, still managed a sleepover or two. That was, until the night she invited me over and left me standing outside in the rain for an hour."

"What?" Leo asked in confusion.

"She had gotten a call after we made the plans. She was invited to some starlet's party, and as Delaney Shaw she had to go and drink and keep her image up. She couldn't wait for me because mousy nobodies were not a part of the Delaney Shaw image. I called her over and over again, but she never picked up. I had to call my parents to come get me and I couldn't even wait inside because the doorman wouldn't let me in without someone to vouch for me. I didn't even find out she had ditched me for the party until the next day when the pictures were all over the internet." I rolled my eyes. "Laney and I used to be good friends, but I hate Delaney Shaw."

"I can't say I blame you. She sounds like a total bitch."

"Yeah, well, she wasn't always one and maybe one day she won't be again. But until then we won't be friends. I could never be friends with Delaney Shaw." Just then there was a knock on my door and Nurse Jackson opened it to reveal my parents.

"Mom!" I smiled and rushed to her, hugging her tightly.

"Oh, sweetheart I missed you!" She hugged my tight.

"I'll leave you guys." Leo smiled and turned to go.

"_Mija_, is this the young man your father has told me about?" My mom raised an eyebrow to Leo, who was clearly no long slipping out.

"Um, yes. Mom, this is Leo…my boyfriend." I answered, blushing the whole time.

"Oh?" My dad raised his eyebrow to that as well, though he didn't look upset in the slightest. "You and I will have to have a talk at some point then, young man." My dad turned to look seriously at Leo, but the stern look on his face did not reach his eyes and I had a hard time not laughing as he pretended to distrust Leo.

"_Mi amour_, stop it. You're going to scare the boy." My mom smacked my father's shoulder lightly, smiling at him. I always loved when my parents were together; even all the time they spent apart could not diminish their obvious love for each other. "It's very nice to meet you Leo." My mother held out her hand. Leo shook it gently and smiled at her.

"It's nice to finally meet you as well." Leo was polite and I silently thanked the gods that the meeting was going so well. "And, it's nice to see you again, sir." Leo turned to shake my father's hand. "I'm looking forward to that talk." He added. "Anyway, I should leave you all to spend some time together; I'll see you in the waiting room."

"Sit tight guys." I smiled to my parents and walked Leo out of my room. When he turned to me I sighed. "So…this is the last time I'll see you before the surgery." I smiled tightly at him, all the fear returning to me.

"Hey, I'll be right here waiting for you. I love you, and nothing that happens after this will change that." Leo grabbed my hand gently, but with enough strength for me to fully trust his words.

"I love you too, and even if I don't remember that after this, that doesn't make this any less true right now. I love you now, and I know I can fall for you all over again." Then I kissed him. I knew it might be the last kiss I gave Leo for a while so I kissed him with all the emotion, all the love I could muster. It was sad, slow, and somehow still just as wonderful as every kiss that preceded it.

We didn't say anything when our lips parted. There really wasn't anything to be said. He leaned his forehead to mine and for a moment we just stood there. Then he pulled back, just enough to leave a kiss there, on my forehead. Squeezing my hand one last time he pulled away, smiled and left.

I went back into the room with my parents and my mother just looked at me for a moment, before raising her arms. I ran into her open arms and let all the tears I'd been holding back fall, let all the fear and frustration that I had been pretending was nothing finally flow out of me, and she just held me. She left me cry until I had no tears left. All the time she whispered soothing words in my ear.

After I was done we all sat on the bed together and talked. I told my parents just how much Leo meant to me, and we talked about what we would do if I couldn't remember anything. Then Nurse Jackson came in and I said goodbye to my parents. She checked all my vitals again and then pulled out an electric razor to cut the hair on the side of my head.

"Can you shave it all?" I asked.

"Are you sure? That's a big change."

"Go big, or go home right?" I chuckled. "I can't go home, so let's go big."

Nurse Jackson hesitated, but the shaved my whole head. "You're going to have a really cool scar when this is over." She told me.

"Yeah? I can't wait to show it off." I made a face that clearly said I didn't care about the scar.

"Alright get changed and we'll take you down."

After I got dressed I was on the bed, being pushed through the hospital and all I could think about was Leo. The lights overhead seemed way too bright and I was terrified to go under, especially since this time Charlie wouldn't be there to greet me.

"Piper?" I turned my gaze to my left where Dr. McAndrew was. "Don't be nervous, I'm going to take care of you."

"Easier said than done, Doc." I scoffed at him. Just as I said that we passed through the last set f doors and I could tell we were finally in the operating room. The anesthesiologist set me up and then said, "Alright Piper, now count backwards from ten."

"Ten…nine…eight…..seven….si – " I never got past six. When I opened my eyes again I was back in that part of the hospital I was in last time I passed out. The difference is that I was alone for the first time. I walked aimlessly at first, then I found my way to Leo's room. It was empty, unlike the real place. None of Leo and Jordi's posters or paint can be found anywhere. It just felt wrong.

I walked away because it just felt too weird, seeing the room empty. I walked to Charlie and Kara's room next, and then what Leo had told me about the time he met Charlie gave me a sudden idea. I left the room and wandered to my room. I closed my eyes and imagined my piano. When I opened them it was there. "Sweet!" I smiled, as I rushed over to the bench to play away the time I would be stuck there. As I sat I had the feeling something was missing, so I closed my eyes again and when I opened them there was a picture of my friends on top of the piano. "Better, now it's not so lonely." I smiled tightly, then began to play.

I stayed that way for what felt like hours. I played songs for Leo, my parents, and my friends. I played for myself, and then everything went black.

* * *

><p><strong>LEO P.O.V<strong>

We sit in the waiting room, piper's parents and I, and we wait in silence for a long time. Then her mom looks at me and smiles. "You are very special to Piper, aren't you?"

"I love her." I answer without hesitation.

"That's good, because I can tell she loves you too. I think more than anything what scares her about losing her memory is the thought of losing you."

"She won't lose me. Even if she doesn't remember me, I'm not going anywhere." I say with calm determination.

"I like that you are stubborn, she will need that if she doesn't remember." Mrs. Douglas smirks at me.

Mr. Douglas just sits quite, his face is stern and for the first time it reaches his eyes. I watch as his wife reaches over and silently grabs his hand, squeezing it gently. He turns to her and places his other hand over hers. They don't say a thing to each other, but the stiffness of his body relaxes a little.

Dash walks over was we sit there. "Hey man, any word yet?" He sits next to me.

"No, nothing. It's only been an hour though." I say with confidence, even though once I say it out loud it doesn't seem like such a short time.

"You took forever too, and they were only hacking off your leg. She's getting a much more delicate procedure."

"Oh, that's for being so nice about my leg." I roll my eyes at Dash and look down at my prosthetic leg.

"Well, just so you know, Hunter is going home today. Kara isn't taking it well."

"Of course she isn't. How's Jordi without Emma?"

"Not bad, but that's because he's trying to get time with Delaney Shaw's manager."

"How's that going?"

"Not well…the kid is determined though."

Dash only stays a few minutes more, then he heads off to try to get in Delaney Shaw's pants again. After he leaves we all sit in silence again. Every so often I offer Piper's parents food, or something to drink. Her mother accepts once, her father never does.

Another hour passes, and Jackson comes into the waiting room. "I knew I'd find you here." She sighs at me. "You know you have PT today."

"And Piper is in there with someone cutting into her brain, so you know I'm not going." I say simply.

"Leo, Piper would not want you risking your ability to go home just to sit here and wait to hear something."

"I promised her I would be here."

"Leo –"

"Nurse Jackson, I love that girl, and if you know how that feels then you'll understand that nothing you say will make me go to PT today."

Nurse Jackson sighs at me. "Alright Leo, but I'm rescheduling it for tomorrow."

"And tomorrow I will gladly go." I nod thankful that Jackson was more of a bleeding heart than she ever wanted to let anyone see. She left us alone again, and we went back to waiting. Only thirty more minutes pass before Dr. McAndrew comes out.

We all stand and meet his as he walks over. "The surgery was successful. We got the entire tumor." He smiled.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas smile and hug each other, and I breath my first real breathe since I parted from Piper. "When can we see her?" Mr. Douglas asks.

"She's still under, but we'll be moving her back into her room in about ten minutes. You can meet her up there." McAndrew nodded and left with a smile.

"I'm going to tell our friends." I smile at her parents and leave.

* * *

><p><strong>Piper P.O.V<strong>

_This isn't my room._ That's the first thing that occurs to me when I open my eyes. _That's my Harry Potter poster…what is it doing here? _All around the room are things from my room at home. But this is clearly not my room. In fact, as I look around it looks like a room in a hospital.

I try to sit up and find I can't move my arms or legs, and there is a pain in the side of my head. _What is going on? _I start to freak out, and here the sound of a heart monitor matching the quickening speed of my own heart beat.

Just then my parents come in smiling, in a gentle and soothing manner. Behind them is a boy with buzz cut hair. "_Mija_, do you remember what's going on?" My mom asks touching my hand gently. I go to answer and find that even my mouth isn't cooperating.

_Am I paralyzed? _I start to panic.

"Okay, I'm going to take that as a 'no'. You have to calm down sweetheart, we'll explain everything." Dad comes up beside Mom and rubs my shoulder. I start to calm down, but I'm still really aware of the strange boy standing in the background, looking much less happy now. "Okay, good, that's good sweetheart. Piper, you just had surgery." Dad starts to explain. When I look at him questioningly he sighs, as though whatever he is going to say next is going to be really hard for me to hear. "Piper, you had a brain tumor."

_What the hell did I miss?_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>And that is the official end of my first official fan fiction! I'm so excited! I hope you guys both love and hate this and please don't worry, I promise a sequel, which time jumps about two weeks ahead and Piper will will be pretty much talking again. So, be on the lookout for that. I have to thank all of you who read, reviewed, followed, and favorite! I appreciate all of you so much!


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